Gift Wasambo Kayira is senior lecturer of history at the University of Malawi.

This most impressive account of Malawi’s development history between the late 1930s and 1983 makes several significant contributions to knowledge of the challenges associated with economic and social change in the late colonial and early post-colonial periods in other regions of Africa as well. Solidly based in archival evidence, this book demonstrates the continuities linking Malawi’s colonial and independence experiences with special attention to the varied actors in the development process, such as international development agents like the World Bank, in contesting state power. Particular attention to the issue of rural poverty and the critical role of inhabitants of Malawi in attempts to ameliorate that situation characterize the author’s approach. This book presents several case studies that illustrate the need for scholarly studies that assess Africa’s development experiences and intentions, not just outcomes.

• List of Figures, Tables, and MapsPrefaceAcknowledgementsList of AbbreviationsIntroductionChapter One: The Poor and British Development Discourse in Africa, 1909-1970sChapter Two: The Land-poverty Nexus in Colonial Malawi, 1930s-1965Chapter Three: Whose Interests? The State, Industry, and Rural Development, 1930s-1953Chapter Four: Confronting Poverty: The State, ODM and World Bank Triad, 1960s-1970sChapter Five: Experts, Planners, and the Tampered Rural Development, 1960s-1981Chapter Six: Malawi’s Foreign Policy and the Fruitless Search for Investment Capital, 1960s-1980Conclusion: Some Reflections on the State and the War on PovertyBibliographyIndexAbout the Author

Gift Wasambo Kayira is senior lecturer of history at the University of Malawi.

This most impressive account of Malawi’s development history between the late 1930s and 1983 makes several significant contributions to knowledge of the challenges associated with economic and social change in the late colonial and early post-colonial periods in other regions of Africa as well. Solidly based in archival evidence, this book demonstrates the continuities linking Malawi’s colonial and independence experiences with special attention to the varied actors in the development process, such as international development agents like the World Bank, in contesting state power. Particular attention to the issue of rural poverty and the critical role of inhabitants of Malawi in attempts to ameliorate that situation characterize the author’s approach. This book presents several case studies that illustrate the need for scholarly studies that assess Africa’s development experiences and intentions, not just outcomes.

• List of Figures, Tables, and MapsPrefaceAcknowledgementsList of AbbreviationsIntroductionChapter One: The Poor and British Development Discourse in Africa, 1909-1970sChapter Two: The Land-poverty Nexus in Colonial Malawi, 1930s-1965Chapter Three: Whose Interests? The State, Industry, and Rural Development, 1930s-1953Chapter Four: Confronting Poverty: The State, ODM and World Bank Triad, 1960s-1970sChapter Five: Experts, Planners, and the Tampered Rural Development, 1960s-1981Chapter Six: Malawi’s Foreign Policy and the Fruitless Search for Investment Capital, 1960s-1980Conclusion: Some Reflections on the State and the War on PovertyBibliographyIndexAbout the Author