Overview

For thirty years, the World Bank has proposed policies that have produced few economic benefits but have eroded the traditional strengths of African societyeven the Bank itself now admits this. But while African leaders, many propped up by the West, are often corrupt or incompetent, an impressive range of regional initiatives and small-scale cooperatives, fledgling industrial projects, womens organizations, and peasant associations represent major signs of hope. These countless initiatives, now springing from the grass roots of African life, embody the realities of an African road to development. They speak for good sense and great courage against the failed miseries of today: against World Bank dogmas left over from the Thatcher/Reagan era, against pricing abuses, against uncanceled debts owed to the rich by the worlds poorest countriesall of which have led to economic breakdown and war. They also challenge our failure to open up our markets to African exports and our minds to African expertise. Examined here in a manner that is both penetrating and hardheaded, what Africans themselves are saying and doing indicates the basis for a continents self-transformation and an agenda for the kind of support they are seeking.

Full Product Details

Author:   Michael Barratt Brown ,  Michael Barratt Brown
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Inc
Imprint:   Westview Press Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.453kg
ISBN:  

9780813333342

ISBN 10:   0813333342
Pages:   456
Publication Date:   07 February 1997
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   No Longer Our Product
Availability:   Awaiting stock  
The supplier is currently out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you and placed on backorder. Once it does come back in stock, we will ship it out for you.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements, Maps, Introduction: Something New out of Africa, Where is the Voice of Africa? Avoiding Cultural Imperialism. The IMF and the World Bank’s Prescriptions. What Africans are Seeking. Aid and Development. PART I WHAT WAS PROPOSED FROM OUTSIDE, How Old is Africa’s Crisis?, Causes of Africa’s Crisis. Africa’s Pre-colonial Heritage. The Atlantic Slave Trade. Colonial Rule in Africa. The Colonial State. The Exploitation of Africa’s Resources. The African Nation-states. Tribes, Classes, Kinship Groups and Elites. Table 1.1 African Exports Concentration Ratios, 1982-6, Alternative Growth Models in the Post-colonial State, Command Economies. Economic Growth and Increasing Inequality. The Case of Nigeria. The Capitalist Way: Rostow’s ‘Stages of Growth’. The Conditions for Take-off. Traditionalism versus Modernism: in Tanzania. The Obstacles to Take-off. What Finally Destroyed Africa’s Take-off? The Contrast with Asia. AFRICA’S CHOICES, Table 2.1 African and Developing Countries’ Growth Rates, 1960-80, Table 2.2 African and Developing Countries’ Economic Structure, 1960-80, Table 2.3 African Countries Fulfilling Rostow’s Criteria, 1960-80, Redistribution and Basic Needs, ‘Redistribution through Growth’. The Case of Kenya and the ILO Report. The Informal Sector. Basic Human Needs: ‘Strong’ and ‘Weak’ Versions. ‘Poverty is Natural’. Table 3.1 Basic Needs Indicators, 1970s, Structural Adjustment-by the World Bank, What were African Governments Doing Wrong? The IMF and World Bank Policy Conditions. Ghana’s Economic Recovery Programme: A Case Study. The Results of Structural Adjustment Policies. The Failure of Export-led Growth. Crisis Management: Commodity Exports and Debt, The Fraser Report on Africa’s Commodity Problems. Debt Reduction, Diversification and Regionalization. The World Bank’s Performance Assessed. The Case of Malawi. Changing Food ‘Entitlement’. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Debt and Violence in Africa. The Case of Sudan - Misuse of the Land. Hunger and Land Capacity. Famine and War. Armed Intervention from Outside. Table 6.1 African Countries’ Foreign Debt Ratios, 1980 and 1988-91, PART II WHAT AFRICANS ARE SEEKING, Africa Must Unite: The Alternative Vision, Unity in Diversity. Growing Authoritarianism of the Nation-states. State-centred Government. Structural Adjustment, Liberalization and the Elites. The Organization of African Unity. The Lagos Plan of Action. Table 7.1 African States’ Political Orientation, 1970s/1990s, Regional Groupings in Africa, Regional Integration and Development. The Different Regions. Comparative Advantages and Poor Communications. Regional Common Markets. The West and the Centre: ECOW AS and UDEAC. The South and East: SADCC and PTA. South Africa’s Regional Policies. The Preferential Trade Area. A Parallel Clearing Union. Table 8.1 Regions and Sub-Regions of Africa, 1988-9, Common Defence of Common Resources, Taming the Commodity Markets. A Common Fund for Commodities. Africa and the European Community. Alternative Commodity Agreements. Organizations of Small-scale Producers. Smallholders and Plantation Workers. Transformation and Self-reliance, Human-centred Development. Africa’s Indigenous Strengths. Modifying and Transforming Structural Adjustment. Responses to the African Alternative. ECA Criticized. Democratizing the Decision-making Process. Table 10.1 Sub-Saharan African Elections, 1989-93, An African Model of Industrial Development, The Need for Industrialization. An African Critique of World Bank Policies. Inappropriate Models- from West and East. Modern Industry as a ‘Foreign Body’ in African Society. The Case of Tanzanian Industry. Lessons for the African Alternative Industrialization. The ‘Missing Middle’. The Importance of Export. Markets. Blending Technologies. Technology Networks. Table 11.1 Sector Shares in GDP, Sub-Saharan Africa, 1987, Table 11.2 Sub-Saharan Africa: Public & Private Sector Growth Rates of Manufacturing Value Added, 1963-86, The Informal, Second Economy, A Growth Sector. Savings Clubs. Origins of the Second Economy. How the Second Economy Works. Smuggling- Across All the Borders. Transition from the Informal to the Formal? The Absence of State Support. Table 12.1 Changes in Real Earnings in Manufacturing Industry, Sub-Saharan Africa, 1973-87, Let the Women Lead! The Invisible Woman. Women’s Oppression. Literacy and Numeracy. Market Women Traders. Women’s Organizations in Africa. Women in Cooperatives. Failures as well as Successes. Women’s Groups Everywhere. Women in Power? Women’s Resistance to Oppression. Developing Human Resources, Health and Education as Investments. Adjustment with a Human Face. Absolute and Relative Poverty. Income Redistribution before Growth. Working Together- in Rural Areas. A Story from Burkina Faso. The Khartoum Declaration. AIDS and Education for Health. Breaking out of the Downward Spiral. Measuring Human Resource Development. Table 14.1 Differences Between the African Vision and the Current Perspective on Africa, Rural Development from the Grass Roots, Agricultural Cooperatives in Africa. The History of the Tanzanian Cooperatives. Why Cooperatives Fail. Peasant Associations in Opposition. The Scope and Capacity of Peasant Associations. Cooperative Successes and Failures. Learning from Failure. Table 15.1 Reasons for Rural Development Failures in Africa, Urbanization and Workers’ Organizations, Urban Expansion and Rural-Urban Differences. Cities as Engines of Growth. Recapturing Mobutu’s Wealth. Where are the Urban Cooperatives? Organizing Labour in Africa’s Mines and Plantations. Strikes and Resistance. Reformist or Revolutionary Unions? Revolution, Military Power and Democracy. Democratic Structures. PART III. A FRAMEWORK FOR COOPERATION, Lessons: For the People of the North and the South, Cooperation on the Ground, Culture and Economy. Cooperation and Competition. Regulating Markets. The Meaning of Self-reliance. Linkages and Networks. The Role of NGOs in Development. What NGOs are best at. NGOs and Governments. Democratizing Government. Table 17.1 A List of Selected African Networks, Table 17.2 A Development Project Check List, Chapter 18. Africa in the World Economy, What Marginalization Means. Working in and against the Market. Solidarity is not Enough: Openings for Alternative Trade. Challenging the Giant Companies. Coping with GATT and the World Trade Organization. Reforming Bretton Woods. Relieving the Burden of Debt. Conclusion. Notes, Index

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Michael Barratt Brown is the chair of TWIN Ltd. and of Twin Trading Ltd. Michael Barratt Brown is the chair of TWIN Ltd. and of Twin Trading Ltd.

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