Overview

Following the conclusion of the Second World War, the nature of inequality in Africa was dramatically altered. In this book, Alden Young traces the emergence of economic developmentalism as the ideology of the Sudanese state in the decolonization era. Young demonstrates how the state was transformed, as a result of the international circulation of tools of economic management and the practice of economic diplomacy, from the management of a collection of distinct populations, to the management of a national economy based on individual equality. By studying the hope and eventual disillusionment this ideology gave to late colonial officials and then Sudanese politicians and policymakers, Young demonstrates its rise, and also its shortfalls as a political project in Sudan, particularly its inability to deal with questions of regional and racial equity, not only showing how it fostered state formation, but also civil war.

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9781107172494

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'Today, a technocratic, economistic vision of a modern Sudan is a half-remembered dream. Alden Young's superb book - a combination of political economy and cultural history - brings into focus the important but neglected story of how the country was once a model of planned development, led by an elite of Sudanese and British economists.' Alex DeWaal, Tufts University, Massachusetts 'This is a compelling study of the imaginative, destructive projects of economic planning. Alden Young explains how officials in late colonial and independent Sudan came to imagine 'the economy' as a particular, measurable, phenomenon; how they sought to transform it through schemes of development - and how calamitous the consequences of those policies were for the people of Sudan. This book makes a major contribution to our understanding of Sudan's history - and provides a salutary lesson for planners everywhere.' Justin Willis, Durham University

Advance praise: 'Today, a technocratic, economistic vision of a modern Sudan is a half-remembered dream. Alden Young's superb book - a combination of political economy and cultural history - brings into focus the important but neglected story of how the country was once a model of planned development, led by an elite of Sudanese and British economists.' Alex DeWaal, Tufts University, Massachusetts Advance praise: 'This is a compelling study of the imaginative, destructive projects of economic planning. Alden Young explains how officials in late colonial and independent Sudan came to imagine 'the economy' as a particular, measurable, phenomenon; how they sought to transform it through schemes of development - and how calamitous the consequences of those policies were for the people of Sudan. This book makes a major contribution to our understanding of Sudan's history - and provides a salutary lesson for planners everywhere.' Justin Willis, Durham University

Author Information

Alden Young is an Assistant Professor of African History and the Director of the Program in Africana Studies at Drexel University, Philadelphia. He was previously a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Africana Studies Department at the University of Pennsylvania and holds a Ph.D. in History from Princeton University, New Jersey.

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