This book uses lessons from history to help African countries take charge of their own economic development agenda. History is an important part of Africa’s economic development narrative, and Ocran investigates how the development outcomes between Africa and Western Europe became so divergent when in the early medieval period average income levels and economic development in the two regions differed only marginally. The sixteenth century marked a turning point, with the emergence of Western European mercantilism and capitalism and their associated exploitation of other countries. In understanding Africa’s economic development, it is crucial to recognise that Africa has not always been poor. Examining 400 years of enslavement and colonisation, this book takes us to present day Africa and economic issues affecting the continent. With selected case studies from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore to South Korea and China, Ocran proposes ways to break out of the economic development quandary Africa currently faces.

Having been under colonial rule for the first half of the century, by 1965 all but a handful of African countries had regained their independence and were poised to take off into an era of development. However, Africa now suffers from the most acute form of underdevelopment anywhere in the world. Bringing together a broad selection of case studies covering a wide range of key issues, this volume provides a multidisciplinary exploration of Africa's development opportunities and challenges into the twenty-first century.

Africa in the 21st Century: Toward a New Future brings together some of the finest Pan African and Afrocentric intellectuals to discuss the possibilities of a new future where the continent claims its own agency in response to the economic, social, political, and cultural problems which are found in every nation. The volume is structured around four sections: I. African Unity and Consciousness: Assets and Challenges; II. Language, Information, and Education; III. African Women, Children and Families; and IV. Political and Economic Future of the African World. In original essays, the authors raise the level of discourse around the questions of integration, pluralism, families, a federative state, and good governance. Each writer sees in the continent the potential for greatness and therefore articulates a theoretical and philosophical approach to Africa that constructs a victorious consciousness from hard concrete facts. This book will interest students and scholars of the history and politics of Africa as well as professional Africanists, Africologists, and international studies scholars who are inclined toward Africa.

This book interrogates contemporary debates, controversies, achievements, challenges, and future prospects of African development and democratization from varied theoretical perspectives. The diverse issues and sub-themes addressed in this volume include tenets of democracy such as democratization, democratic institutions, good governance, term limits, minority rights, and women’s political participation; and dynamics of development such as economic growth, liberalization, development strategies and models, Millennium Development Goals, uneven regional development,sustainable development challenges, transport development and management, and health and development. Featuring established and emerging scholars, this book is a vital resource for scholars, policy makers, and students interested in African politics and development.

First published in 1999, this volume is written by seasoned African scholars and is intended to make a significant contribution to the debate on peaceful coexistence and sustainable development in the continent. The book contains a very refreshing, rigorous, informative and multidisciplinary analysis of the transition in Africa and provides practical and effective policy options for Africans. It breaks new ground in that it emphasizes the importance of institutions to economic growth and development in Africa. As such, it differs significantly from previous efforts which have tended to blame Africa’s underdevelopment on incompetent, ill-informed and poorly educated leadership. While agreeing that the shortage of competent and skilled technocrats has been a significant problem for many African countries during the last four decades, the contributors argue that the most critical determinant of poverty and deprivation in the continent has been the absence of institutional arrangements that enhance the creation of wealth and allow ethnic and other social cleavages to live together peacefully. Thus, as Africans prepare their societies for the new century, the first line of business should be state reconstruction - a task that was supposed to have been undertaken shortly after independence but was never accomplished. The main purpose of such an exercise is for each African country to design and adopt institutional arrangements that enhance peaceful coexistence of groups, the creation of wealth, and sustainable development.

In the twenty-first century, Africa has become an important source of US energy imports and the world's natural resources. It has also become the epicentre of the world's deadly health epidemic, HIV/AIDS, and one of the battlegrounds in the fight against terrorism. Africa is now a major player in global affairs.