Challenges to the Nation-state in Africa
Challenges to the Nation-state in Africa

Author: Adebayo O. Olukoshi

Publisher: Nordic Africa Institute

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 222

ISBN-13:

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The challenges facing the nation-state in contemporary Africa are increasingly attracting the attention of scholars interested to understand how the decomposition and recomposition of popular political identities on the continent are affecting the post-colonial unitary project. The studies presented in this volume show that the challenges to the post-colonial nation-state project in Africa have mainly taken ethno-regionalist, religious and separatist forms. These challenges have been shaped by the long drawn-out economic crisis, zero-sum, market-led structural adjustment, and the legacy of decades of political authoritarianism and exclusion that dates from the colonial period. The contributors to this book present different suggestions to promote national unity and a supporting civic identity in Africa.

Nigeria and the Nation-State
Nigeria and the Nation-State

Author: John Campbell

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2024-08-13

Total Pages: 287

ISBN-13: 1538197812

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Nigeria, despite being the African country of greatest strategic importance to the U.S., remains poorly understood. John Campbell explains why Nigeria is so important to understand in a world of jihadi extremism, corruption, oil conflict, and communal violence. The revised edition provides updates through the recent presidential election.

Africa Emerges
Africa Emerges

Author: Robert Rotberg

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2013-07-10

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 0745670458

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Sub-Saharan Africa is no longer a troubled ‘dark continent.’ Most of its constituent countries are now enjoying significant economic growth and political progress. The new Africa has begun to banish the miseries of the past, and appears ready to play an important role in world affairs. Thanks to shifts in leadership and governance, an African renaissance could be at hand. Yet the road ahead is not without obstacles. As world renowned expert on African affairs, Robert Rotberg, expertly shows, Africa today maybe poised to deliver real rewards to its long suffering citizens but it faces critical new crises as well as abundant new opportunities. Africa Emerges draws on a wealth of empirical data to explore the key challenges Africa must overcome in the coming decades. From peacekeeping to health and disease, from energy needs to education, this illuminating analysis diagnoses the remaining impediments Africa will need to surmount if it is to emerge in 2050 as a prosperous, peaceful, dynamic collection of robust large and small nations. Africa Emerges offers an unparalleled guide for all those interested in the dynamics of modern Africa’s political, economic, and social development.

Ethnic Challenges to the Modern
Ethnic Challenges to the Modern

Author: Shlomo Ben-Ami

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2000-05-04

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 0333977300

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A compilation of original essays dealing with ethnic challenges to the modern nation-state and to modernity itself, on the philosophical, political and social levels. These issues are examined theoretically and in a number of case studies encompassing three types of states: industrialized, liberal states in Western Europe, settler states in America, Africa and the Middle East, and post-colonial states in Asia and Africa. Contributors come from leading universities in Israel, Europe and North America and from several academic disciplines.

The Illusion of the Post-Colonial State
The Illusion of the Post-Colonial State

Author: W. Alade Fawole

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2018-06-01

Total Pages: 255

ISBN-13: 1498564615

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This book challenges the long-held conventional wisdom that Africa is a post-colonial society of sovereign nation-states despite the outward attributes of statehood: demarcated territories, permanent populations, governments, national currencies, police, and armed forces. While it is true that African nation-states have been gifted flag independence by their respective colonial masters, few have reached fully developed status as a secure nation-state. Most African nation-states have, since independence, been grappling with the crisis of state-building, nation-building, governance, and myriad security challenges which have been chronically exacerbated by the dynamics of the post-Cold War era. To focus merely on the agency of the African political elite and their inability to sustain functional modern nation-states misses the point. The central argument of the book is that an understanding of Africa’s contemporary governance and security challenges requires us to historicize the discourse surrounding nation-building and state-building throughout Africa.

Challenges of Growth and Globalization in the Middle East and North Africa
Challenges of Growth and Globalization in the Middle East and North Africa

Author: Mr.Hamid R Davoodi

Publisher: International Monetary Fund

Published: 2003-09-05

Total Pages: 44

ISBN-13: 9781589062290

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The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is an economically diverse region. Despite undertaking economic reforms in many countries, and having considerable success in avoiding crises and achieving macroeconomic stability, the region’s economic performance in the past 30 years has been below potential. This paper takes stock of the region’s relatively weak performance, explores the reasons for this out come, and proposes an agenda for urgent reforms.

Democracy in Africa
Democracy in Africa

Author: Nic Cheeseman

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2015-05-12

Total Pages: 269

ISBN-13: 1316239489

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This book provides the first comprehensive overview of the history of democracy in Africa and explains why the continent's democratic experiments have so often failed, as well as how they could succeed. Nic Cheeseman grapples with some of the most important questions facing Africa and democracy today, including whether international actors should try and promote democracy abroad, how to design political systems that manage ethnic diversity, and why democratic governments often make bad policy decisions. Beginning in the colonial period with the introduction of multi-party elections and ending in 2013 with the collapse of democracy in Mali and South Sudan, the book describes the rise of authoritarian states in the 1970s; the attempts of trade unions and some religious groups to check the abuse of power in the 1980s; the remarkable return of multiparty politics in the 1990s; and finally, the tragic tendency for elections to exacerbate corruption and violence.

The Fortunate Isles
The Fortunate Isles

Author: Basil Davidson

Publisher: Africa World Press

Published: 1989

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 9780865431225

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A vivid, first hand description of how the Cape Verde Islands fared before and after freeing themselves from colonial rule.

The New Pan-Africanism
The New Pan-Africanism

Author: Michael Amoah

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2019-01-31

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13: 1838600485

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Nationalism and the nation state, globalization and Pan-Africanism are leading international relations concepts which have a particular relevance for Africa as an emerging economic power. This book examines the concept of nationalism, the nationalist mind-set or 'psychology of nationalism' and the role of the nation state in an era of globalism and globalization. The 'new' Pan-Africanism is a growing force, spurred by economic growth and Africa's rising global significance and recent years have seen the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area. Michael Amoah here investigates concepts of nationalism and the nation state through case studies of eight countries and discusses the impact of globalism in African states where Pan-Africanism is an increasingly significant factor in both domestic politics and international relations.

The State and Nation-Building Processes in Kenya since Independence
The State and Nation-Building Processes in Kenya since Independence

Author: Mwangi, Susan Waiyego

Publisher: Langaa RPCIG

Published: 2019-06-25

Total Pages: 238

ISBN-13: 9956550345

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Kenya’s nationalism during the colonial period was marked by two main characteristics that feature in this book. First, the struggle for independence that was mainly characterized by the claim for land that had been taken away by the colonizers. Second was the struggle for autonomy and self-determination, mainly through political resistance. The authors in this book analyse historical trajectories of Kenya's nationalism trends while highlighting the role of political leaders, large as well as small ethnic groups, perennial conflicts, community as well as religious leaders, among others. The discussions demonstrate that quest for a national identity that is inclusive at all levels – whether politically, economically, religiously and ethnically – has marked Kenya's struggle for nationalism, sometimes leading to violence, especially during election periods, national unity through political coalitions and reconciliation, as well as institutional reforms. In conclusion, the authors demonstrate that while Kenya is gradually advancing towards national cohesion, there are still many challenges yet to be surmounted.