By Komla Tsey. In this thought provoking book, Komla Tsey argues that if governments, NGOs, development donor agencies and researchers are serious about development in Africa, they need to get down to ground level, both metaphorically and literally. They must search deep into Africa’s own rich oral traditions by creating space and opportunity for ordinary Africans, whose voices have so far been conspicuously absent in the development discourse, to tell and share their own stories of development. Story-sharing as research methodology acts as a mirror, reflecting the participants’ self-evaluation of where they have come from, where they are now, and…
Author: CASADE
John Ifediora. A common argument adduced in defense of Africa’s abysmal development pattern or lack of it is that African policy makers lack the will and dedication essential to crafting and assiduously implementing well-recognized socio-economic vectors that other countries in the West and East Asia have cleverly adopted to spur development. In the case of Nigeria, critics point to the fact that in 1960 South Korea and Nigeria had comparable levels of national income or parity in Gross Domestic Product. From this base level, it is then extrapolated to the present differential in economic performance by both countries, and conclude…
By Bates, Nuun & Robinson. This edited volume addresses the root causes of Africa’s persistent poverty through an investigation of its longue durée history. It interrogates the African past through disease and demography, institutions and governance, African economies and the impact of the export slave trade, colonialism, Africa in the world economy, and culture’s influence on accumulation and investment. Several of the chapters take a comparative perspective, placing Africa’s developments aside other global patterns. The readership for this book spans from the informed lay reader with an interest in Africa, academics and undergraduate and graduate students, policy makers, and those…
The Council on African Security And Development (CASADE) is pleased to announce this international event that holds enormous potential for Africa’s development initiatives. CASADE is a partnering organization of this event, and its director, Professor John Ifediora, is a scheduled speaker at the event. http://atigs2018.com/atigs-2018/ The 2018 Africa Trade & Investment Global Summit (ATIGS), scheduled on June 24 to 26, 2018 at the World Trade Center – Ronald Reagan Building in Washington D.C. Under the main theme “Driving Trade, Unleashing Investment and Enhancing Economic Development: the Gateway to African Markets”, ATIGS 2018 goals and objectives are aligned with two of…
Africa’s natural resources have long provided allure for China. On the back of large infrastructure investments, concessional loans and grants, China has developed strong trade partnerships with many African countries. In order to deepen ties further and to make its attractiveness less dependent upon its deep pockets, China has sought in recent years to expand its “soft power” in Africa. China’s growing focus on soft power in the region suggests that it is mindful of how these platforms could help to nurture geopolitical allies, export its economic model and values and, perhaps most importantly, make African countries pay heed to…
Syerramia Willoughby. What is Ubuntu? Is it a radical or benign concept? Ubuntu is a traditional African philosophy which means “I am, because we are”. It seeks to convey “the humaneness of the human being”. Despite the geographic and socio-cultural diversity of the continent, the idea behind this philosophy is present in communities all over the land mass that is Africa. Can this value system shape a new brand of leadership for the African continent? That was the question under discussion at the 2015 Africa Utopia Festival by LSE academics Awol Allo, Vanessa Iwowo and Jason Hickel. A key challenge…
Charles Kenny and Andrew Sumer. Remember the poverty trap? Countries stuck in destitution because of weak institutions put in place by colonial overlords, or because of climates that foster disease, or geographies that limit access to global markets, or simply by the fact that poverty is overwhelmingly self-perpetuating. Apparently the trap can be escaped. The World Bank did its annual assessment of poor countries last week. Low-income countries are those with average gross national incomes (GNIs) of less than $1,005 per person per year. And there are only 35 of them remaining out of the countries and economies that the…
Anthony Carroll. Last Friday’s State of the Nation Address by newly-elected South African President Cyril Ramaphosa outlined many of the challenges that confront his country nearly a quarter of a century after the end of apartheid. These include economic inequality, unemployment, decaying social conditions, and corruption. His forthright remarks represent a paradigm shift in that country’s governance and governing principles and provides an opportunity for the United States to reengage with a strategic ally after nearly two decades of eroding relations. It is only fitting that Mr. Ramaphosa usher in this new era. Once the favored protégé of Nelson Mandela,…
As more misplaced, misassigned, and morally bankrupt African leaders are systemically forced out of office, the continent may in fact have a brighter future. The recent departures of South Africa’s Zuma, Zimbabwe’s Mugabe, and Mr. Desalegn of Ethiopia are not coincidences; they are harbingers of things to come as Africans find and embrace free speech, and democratic principles. Said differently, Africans are now saying to their leaders “Get your priorities right or ship out.” Real change is afoot, and we are anxious to see the fruit it bears. Jim Moore of New York Times explains what led to the forced…
Maria A. Arias, Yi Wen. The low- or middle-income trap phenomenon has been widely studied in recent years. Although economic growth during the postwar period has lifted many low-income economies from poverty to a middle-income level and other economies to even higher levels of income, very few countries have been able to catch up with the high per capita income levels of the developed world and stay there. As a result, relative to the U.S. (as a representative of the developed world), most developing countries have remained, or been “trapped,” at a constant low- or middle-income level. Such a phenomenon…