A concise study examining the various trends and structural factors in the contemnporary political economy of West Africa, assessing how they will affect the needs and capabilities of the sub-region's countries to achieve a more rapid system of democratic government and respond to the demands of globalisation. It provides an overview of the area's development issues, including the prospects for regional co-operation/integration, the important geo-political and economic role played by France in West Africa, changing forms of popular identity, and Islam and its growing influence. It argues that in this age of intensifying globalisation, West Africa's future centres around the choice between the pursuit of national strategies, and closer regional co-operation, the political will not withstanding.

Prior to the arrival of the forces of colonialism, the West African sub-region was dotted by a host of kingdoms and empires among the Ashanti Kingdom to the Sokoto Caliphate, the Kanem Bornu, Samory Touré's Guinea, the Oyo, the Benin and the Dahomey Kingdom, among others. [...] The rapidity with which military rule spread from Togo to encompass all the other countries of the sub-region, with the excep- tion of Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal, and the rapid, often violent regime turnover that the region witnessed in the period up to the late 1990s, is symptomatic of the crisis of governance that continues to afflict the area. [...] The project of reconciliation and reconstruction would, inevitably, involve close attention to the establishment of a new social contract between the state and society, the reconstruction of the state to redress the unidirectional retrenchment which it suffered during the adjustment years, and the provision of a new set of principles around which national energies 11 could be mobilised and which c. [...] Obviously, on the face of things at least, the easiest way to avert the possible outbreak of 'water wars' in the future will be to devise strategies for developing the full potentialities of the rivers in the wider framework of regional co-operation/integration in West Africa. [...] The situation was not helped by the indiscriminate removal of input subsidies, the lack of attention to the infrastructure needs of the farming communities, the inadequacy of marketing and financing institutions, and the difficulties posed by the ever-diminishing international terms of trade for primary commodity exporters.

The poor economic performance of some African countries since independence has been a major concern to both African leaders and policy makers. This volume, which draws together contributions from academics based in Africa and its diaspora, situates the continent within its historic and socio-political background: from the 1960s, the decade of independence, through to its development outlook as the new millennium unfolds. It examines a broad range of contemporary issues -- from development and culture to linguistics and is unique in identifying and examining issues that are common both to Africa and the diaspora.

The Economic Development of West Africa in the Twenty-First Century is a book of economic theory that seeks to explain empirically how West African nations can develop their respective economies in order to not only increase the living standard of their population but to also stimulate a regional economic growth. The book subsequently presents the introduction of a new economic model to determine how economic growth could potentially occur in West Africa on a long-term basis. To demonstrate his analysis, the author has combined the elements of public choice theory, which emphasize on the political features of an economy and those of the Solow Growth Model, which focus on generating economic productivity. The combination of the elements of these two economic tools is designed to determine, not the outcome, but the process whereby economic growth in West Africa could be stimulated in a long-time period.

Essays on trends regarding the economic policy, economic implications and social implications of capitalism in Africa South of Sahara - covers historical and sociological aspects; includes chapters on dependence, the role of the peasantry and traditional society in rural development, proletarianization and the evolution of social classes, socio-economic role of foreign investment, White political power structures in Southern Africa, etc. Bibliography, references, statistical tables.

The book brings into sharp focus some of the major political, social, and economic issues that might impede Africa's development project in the 21st century. It debates and suggests ways that policy makers might tackle these issues in order to promote the vision of the continent's transformation in the millennium.