This volume provides an analysis of the political economy of Cabo Verde from its independence in 1975 to the present. The collection serves as both a primary source and sociopolitical study, featuring some of the most accomplished scholars and policy practitioners on the subject matter of the nation's political economy.
This book explores the economic and development challenges seen within post-colonial Africa. Particular attention is given to governance and political leadership challenges within Africa and how they have resulted in poor education facilities, a lack of infrastructure development, corruption, and economic insecurity. The ways in which Africa’s natural resources and agricultural land have not been utilised to drive development and economic growth are examined in relation to internal political conflicts. Broader issues, such as labour exploitation, financial leakage, and the exclusion of women from decision making, are also discussed. This book highlights poor political leadership within Africa and presents a framework for inclusive economic growth within post-colonial Africa. It will be of interest to students, researchers, policymakers and leaders working with development of African economics.
This book explores the economic and development challenges seen within post-colonial Africa. Particular attention is given to governance and political leadership challenges within Africa and how they have resulted in poor education facilities, a lack of infrastructure development, corruption, and economic insecurity. The ways in which Africa’s natural resources and agricultural land have not been utilised to drive development and economic growth are examined in relation to internal political conflicts. Broader issues, such as labour exploitation, financial leakage, and the exclusion of women from decision making, are also discussed. This book highlights poor political leadership within Africa and presents a framework for inclusive economic growth within post-colonial Africa. It will be of interested to students, researchers, and policymakers working with development and African economics.
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.
This edited volume discusses the role of innovation and regional integration in economic development in Africa. Over the past five decades, post-colonial African countries have struggled to break loose from the trap of poverty and underdevelopment through the adoption of various development strategies at regional, national, and continental levels. However, the results of both national and regional efforts at advancing development on the continent have been mixed. Although the importance of agglomeration and fusion of institutions have long been recognized as possible path to achieving economic development in Africa, the approach to regionalism has been unduly focused on market integration, while neglecting other dimensions such as social policy, mobility of labor, educational policy, biotechnology, regional legislation, manufacturing, innovation, and science and technology. This volume investigates the link between innovation, regional integration, and development in Africa, arguing that the immediate and long term development of Africa lies not just in the structural transformation of its economies but in the advancement of scientific and innovation capacities. The book is divided into four parts. Part I addresses the theoretical and conceptual underpinnings of innovation and regional integration in Africa. Part II presents case studies which examine how regional economic institutions are fostering innovation in Africa. Part III of the book deals with sectoral issues on innovation and integrated development in Africa. Part IV sets the future research on innovation, regional integration, and development in Africa. Combining theoretical analysis and a comparative, interdisciplinary approach, this volume is appropriate for researchers and students interested in economic development, political economy, African studies, international relations, agricultural science, and geography, as well as policymakers in regional economic communities and the African Union.
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.
Most accounts of health and healthcare in Africa are written by foreigners. African Health Leaders: Making Change and Claiming the Future redresses the balance. Written by Africans, who have themselves led improvements in their own countries, the book discusses the creativity, innovation and leadership that has been involved tackling everything from HIV/AIDs, to maternal, and child mortality and neglected tropical diseases. It celebrates their achievements and shows how, over three generations, African health leaders are creating a distinctively African vision of health and health systems. The book reveals how African Health Leaders are claiming the future - in Africa, but also by sharing their insights and knowledge globally and contributing fully to improving health throughout the world. It illustrates how African leadership can enable foreign agencies and individuals working in Africa to avoid all those misunderstandings and misinterpretations of culture and context which lead to wasted efforts and frustrated hopes. African Health Leaders challenges Africans to do more for themselves; build on success; tackle weak governance, corrupt systems and low expectations and claim the future. It sets out what Africa needs from the rest of the world in the spirit of global solidarity - not primarily in aid, but through investment, collaboration, partnership and co-development. It concludes with a vision for improvement based on three foundations: an understanding that 'health is made at home'; the determination to offer access to health services for everyone; and an insistence on the pursuit of quality.
This book contains different reflections on leadership and institutions in Africa. Drawing from different ideological and methodological orientations, the book highlights how leadership and institutions have shaped and continue to shape the trajectory of Africa’s political and economic development. The book explores different epochs in Africa’s history, from the era of colonialism to the period of nationalist movements, and up to post-colonial Africa. Essays in the volume engage with major actors and important institutions that defined each era. By presenting various reflections and representations of leadership and institutions in Africa, this book attempts to make the connection between leadership and institutions on the one hand, and between these variables and Africa’s development on the other. Similar to most studies on Africa’s political economy, the book considers the role of external forces whether operationalized through direct interventions as was the case during the colonial era, or through subtle imposition of policies as has been the new model in post-colonial times. Drawing from these lenses, issues around Africa’s dependency on external interventions, neo-colonialism, neoliberalism, and disregard for Africa’s culture are explored and contextualized within the framework of leadership and institutions.
Does leadership affect economic growth and development? Is leadership an exogenous determinant or an endogenous outcome of growth and development processes? Can we differentiate between the two? Do leaders decisions and actions vary in importance over various stages in the process, at least in successful cases? How important is choosing the right economic model? To what extent does leadership affect the explicit or implicit time horizons of policy choices? Is leadership an important determinant of inclusiveness in growth? In what ways do leaders build consensus or institutions to allow time for the economic plan to work? What challenges does economic success generate? How do successful leaders adapt to new problems such as income inequality and a rising middle class? Does the creation of new institutions play any role in solving these problems? Why do leaders often choose second best political economic compromises in economic development? This book has been prepared for the Commission on Growth and Development to evaluate the state of knowledge on the relationship between leadership and economic growth. It does not pretend to provide all the answers, but does review the evidence, identify insights and offers examples of leaders making decisions and acting in ways that enhance economic growth. It examines a variety of topics including leaders roles in: promoting national unity, building good solid institutions, choosing innovative and localized policies, and creating political consensus for long run policy implementation. Written by prominent academics and actual policy makers, Leadership and Growth seeks to create a better understanding of the role of leadership in growth and to encourage further studies of the role of leadership in economic growth.