Julius E. Nyang'oro - Böcker

This work goes beyond recent analyses of African development to present a post-dependency framework for the study of Africa's political economy. The author argues that, although the contributions of the modernization and dependency frameworks cannot be ignored, recent economic and political adjustments and realignments require a more penetrating analysis--one that takes into account such factors as the overall growth of the economy, the role of the state, parallel markets, and capitalist development in general. An ideal supplemental text for courses in comparative politics, international political economy, and African development, the volume is comparative in approach and covers the countries of sub-Saharan Africa.The author begins by discussing the various dimensions--agricultural, environmental, industrial, population--of Africa's continuing crisis condition. He then closely examines the African development experience since independence and explores the evolution of development theory and its application to Africa. Arguing for a new mode of production approach to the study of Africa's political economy, the author attempts to determine whether Africa is indeed predominantly capitalist and raises questions regarding prevailing theories of capitalist development. Finally, Nyang'oro looks at the state in Africa, pointing to some fundamental weaknesses that contribute to the ongoing crisis and offering a perceptive assessment of development options open to Africa.

This book brings into sharp focus the problems of development under conditions of structural adjustment and their relation to democratic change in Africa. Contributors to this volume are interested in specific countries such as Kenya, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, etc., but do bring to bear a rigorous comparative method which uses a political economy approach to the study of democracy, gender, industrialization, agriculture and the state. Its comparative approach in revisionist political economy allows for issues such as the new international division of labor to become central to the analysis of the relationship between developed and underdeveloped countries.The state-centric approach, although useful, may have missed important undercurrents in civil society. An analysis of development through the state's lenses has predominated the study of Africa. The approach by contributors in this volume is equally interested in the state but is also concerned with non-state actors. This dynamic approach characterizes few texts on Africa. This work should attract those who are concerned with African development, specifically, and international political economy in general.

This book presents a collection of case studies that make apparent that African corporatism is comparable yet in contrast to corporatism elsewhere. The collection also demonstrates the variation in corporatist practice and success among African countries. .