Underdevelopment In Africa Research Articles

Unlocking Africa’s development potential: insights from the perspective of global hierarchy and competition

Science and technology have had great leaps since World War II. However, many African countries have remained very poor. To understand this issue, we employ a new metric, the revealed comparative wealth (RCW), to critically assess economic development in all African countries. The yearly ranking of RCW for all the countries in the world reveals a global hierarchy with many African countries moving to the lower end of the hierarchy, indicating worsened relative underdevelopment in Africa. Analysis of the temporal variations of RCW reveals a salient mechanism for the underdevelopment in Africa — over 30 African countries have their RCW strongly negatively correlated with advanced economies. One main factor contributing to this phenomenon, inferred from international trade data analysis, is the partition of labor and differences in industrial structure — most African countries are at the very bottom of the various value chains, including only providing raw materials to the better-developed countries. The inferior positions in the global hierarchy for the African nations are found to be partly instigated by colonialism and enhanced by neo-colonialism. To unlock Africa’s development potential, African nations must diversify their economic activity, unleash people’s creativity about economic development, and make the best efforts to accumulate capital to make further development possible. A prerequisite for achieving the last is to use foreign capital and cooperate with multinational corporations more wisely, including securing better deals with profit allocation resulting from foreign investment.

Destroy their Tongue and Identity so that they will Never build the House: Language, Identity and (Under)development of Africa

This paper examines two main themes in Africa’s culture--- Language and Identity and how the disarticulations of both have led to the underdevelopment of the continent. The study adopts a qualitative methodology, using the historical approach and post- colonial state thesis as the basis of analysis. It argued that the underdevelopment of Africa is hinged on bastardisation done to the twin of language and identity being two germane parts of its culture through the early contact between Africa and Europeans in the form of slave trade and colonialism which continued in the post-colonial state through neocolonialism. The paper found that in spite of the interventions from stakeholders from the global, regional levels down to individual level in responding to these crises, these interventions are dictated by western powers, lack proper framework and atomistic as well as lack the political will. The paper recommends among other things that there is need for an Africa reinvention on what works for us, recalibration of our identity, cultural values and moors through conscientious education.

Towards Foreign Direct Investment for Development in the Host State? Revisiting Charter Cities

Abstract The phenomenon of population growth, scramble for employment, congestion in cities coupled with underdevelopment has been a cause for concern over the years. Many solutions, such as aid and conclusion of international investment agreements with a view to attract foreign direct investment, have been explored and tried with no real changes. In recent years, there is a strong movement on charter cities, championed by the former World Bank Chief Economist, Paul Romer. Romer’s grand charter city would be developed on a vacant land, offered by the host State, for free, to the developer of the city. The city adopts a constitutive act, spelling out basic rights of the residents and the responsibilities of the city government but then imports functional rules from a developed country/countries being guarantor(s), and the latter ensure(s) enforcement of these rules. This paper explores charter cities as a panacea to poverty and underdevelopment in Africa and it lays bare the problematic conceptual issues on charter cities. Thus, it finds that charter cities could be another vehicle facilitating scramble for land in Africa as seen in Madagascar where the idea was explored. In addition, a need for uninhabited land threatens relocations and removals, which have often been forceful and impacts on the socio-economic conditions of communities as witnessed in Lesotho when the highlands water project, serving South Africa with water, began construction. Relocations are not only economically debilitating; they are highly emotive to many Africans based on the past experiences. Further, substituting the host state’s control with that of developed nation/s (sponsor/guarantor) can only be regarded as neo-liberal colonialism. Another problem is in relation to freedom to reside in the city, thereby extending free residency to everyone from anywhere in world, compromising sovereignty for the host and not solving employment crisis. While charter cities can solve poverty and underdevelopment in Africa, these conceptual problems need to be addressed; otherwise, we are facing neoliberal land dispossessions.

A Predatory West, Africa’s Postcolonial States, International Trade Relations and Underdevelopment in Africa: A Survey of Centre/Core-Periphery Issues

This paper examines a predatory West and Africa’s postcolonial states international trade relations and underdevelopment in Africa to divulge how centre-periphery issues evoke underdevelopment in postcolonial African states. It argues that, historically, be it a core or peripheral, in whatever mode of production, the state is the dominant laboratory for all human activities, as it plays ever-dominant roles in domestic and international politico-economic and socio-cultural affairs, being the primary vector for development or underdevelopment is society. However, international trade relations have conditioned these roles and capacities of the state, in terms of strengths or weaknesses in service delivery to its citizens. Having been incorporated and monetised into the West’s capitalism, the postcolonial Africa’s state, has despite these roles, subjectively occupied a debilitating peripheral capitalist position in global wealth production. Today, like yesterday, the postcolonial African state, exhibits excruciating and traumatising underdevelopment, incarnated by uncivilised political, social, economic infrastructures, which incubate citizens’ apathy to governance, while enhancing insecurity, poverty, conflicts and fragmentation of nationalities. Using Raul Prebisch’s (1949) dependency theory, I argue that, the weaknesses and fragilisation of the postcolonial African state accrue from the despondent peripheral capitalist position it occupies in the international capitalist division of labour. Via Wallenstein’s (1930-2019) Modern World System theory, (MWS), I seek reawakening the gratuitous Africans’ slumbering consciousness towards overcoming underdevelopment; impelled by a predatory West’s instigated peripheral capitalism.

Internal under-development in Africa and Amin’s delinking theory: Dangote, Dos Santos and Motsepe

ABSTRACT In his theory on delinking, Amin shows how Africa is linked to global Capital. For Amin, it is in this link that Africa’s underdevelopment resides. An important element in this linking process is the role that the comprador bourgeoisie plays in its relationship with global Capital, which facilitates the continued underdevelopment of Africa. Amin raises the question of the role that the African comprador bourgeoisie played as agents of imperialism in keeping Africa linked to Europe. From this standpoint, Amin presents the possibility of approaching Africa’s underdevelopment from another dimension – the possibility of exploring Africa’s underdevelopment as an internally driven process initiated by home-grown African capitalists who accumulate for their own account. Extending the logic of the comprador bourgeoisie, this paper argues that Capital in Africa is responsible for internal under development. African Capital too, together with international Capital consciously participates in under developing Africa. We argue that internal underdevelopment is based on a capitalist logic that contains all the standard phenomena associated with Capital, namely, inequality, unemployment, and poverty. Furthermore, exploring the rise of our case studies, viz; the Dangotes, Motsepes, and the Dos Santos’, we show how instrumental each of them are in the internal underdevelopment of Africa.

Environmental empowerment: A new approach to poverty eradication in Africa

Most of the rural population in Africa is affected by poverty. High levels of poverty are witnessed through food shortages, low life expectancy and environmental degradation. Arguably, poverty in general and in Africa specifically is partly caused by a poor environment. An environment that is poor impoverishes its population. There are two types of poor environments in Africa; an environment that is inherently poor and another which is made poor by human beings. To deal with poverty and underdevelopment in Africa, social workers must empower the natural environment. An empowered environment capacitates community development. As it stands, social work in Africa focuses on empowering the poor who reside within an impoverished environment and to that effect, social work empowerment programmes are ineffective.How to cite using ASWNet styleDudzai, C. (2023). Environmental empowerment: A new approach to poverty eradication in Africa. People centred – The Journal of Development Administration (JDA), 8(3), 93. Social Work and Development Student Conference (SWDSC), 16 June 2023. https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/jda.v8i3.8
 Conference AbstractSocial Work and Development Student Conference (SWDSC), Held on 16 June 2023, Day of the African Child (DAC), Organised by Africa Social Work and Development Network (ASWDN).
 Conference Organising Committee: Danzel Rademan, University of the Free State, South Africa (Chairperson); Atuhairwe Collins, Student, Master of Social Work, Makerere University, Uganda (Vice-Chairperson); Never Winnie James Sebit, South Sudan; Bachelor in Social Work, RCSS, India (Secretary); Tatenda Sukulao, Bachelor of Social Work, Midlands State University, Zimbabwe (Vice-Secretary); Norman T. Manyika, Student, Bachelor of Social Work, University of Zimbabwe (Committee member) & Takudzwa Banda, Bachelor of Social Work, University of Zimbabwe (Committee member).
 Visit journal website: https://jda.africasocialwork.net

POLITIQUES ECOLOGIQUESET ECOCITOYENNETE: ALTERNATIVE POUR LE DEVELOPPEMENT DURABLE

The major consequences of environmentalproblems are the deterioration of peoples living conditions and are sources of underdevelopment in Africa. It isimperative to make all actorsresponsible for theseproblems. The factisthatour populations are stillveryinsensitive and not concerned about environmentalproblems. The reasons for thesebehaviours are diverse. Whileecologicalpolicies are oftendisarticulatedfromtheircontextsbecausedeveloped by African states in relation to international agendas, these are not alwaysintegrated by the populations in theirdailylives and are not followed by the public authorities. The consequenceisthatenvironmental issues are seen by people as new and non-priority issues. These populations are oftenunder-informed about environmental issues and are not sufficientlyaware of environmental protection initiatives. People are not sufficientlyawarethattodaysenvironmentalproblemswillfurther affect theircurrentlives and those of future generations. The approachisthat of the principle of accountabilitythatcommits states, individuals and communities to their impacts on the environment.

Why the externalist-internalist distinction over the African development discourse is a dead end

In recent times, scholarship has reduced the paradigm for why Africa remains largely underdeveloped to two: the externalist and the internalist views. The former is conceived to comprise scholars who tender that the reason Africa is underdeveloped and remains thus is due to the exploitative presence of Western capitalism and, in recent times, China. Walter Rodney has, however, been placed here as a key figure. The internalist, on the other hand, argues that the reason for Africa's underdevelopment may be traced to the presence of bad leadership and mismanagement on the part of Africans themselves. 'Muyiwa Falaiye and George Ayittey are more pronounced representatives. In this research, I counter the locus that Rodney is an externalist. I disclose how criticizing him from this externalist reading amounts to a Strawman. I extract and build on the eclectic basis of his assessment of African development as a justification for why the externalist-internalist debate leads nowhere.

CORRUPTION, UNDERDEVELOPMENT AND THE MASSES IN AFRICA

Much contemporary scholarship on corruption and underdevelopment in Africa focuses on the role of the elite with scant consideration for the interpellation and agency of non-elite citizens. The paper complements the tenor of available literature. Drawing on a dynamic perspective on corruption, the paper argues that political elites are influenced in part by demands and expectations from regular citizens. These demands and expectations are a major motivation that fuels and validates certain practices which are widely regarded as corrupt. This is not a pro-elite paper. Rather than a pro-elite standpoint, the paper offers a nuanced analysis of how the actions and inaction of citizens affect the conduct of governing elites. Ignoring the role of the masses makes for an incomplete understanding of the vignettes of corruption and crisis of development in Africa. While the paper focuses on Africa, the findings are applicable to other regions of the global south.

Modelling the Jewish Tzedakah Concept for Poverty Alleviation and Socio-economic Development in Africa: A Neo-Pentecostal Perspective

As the Jewish highest level of charity, Tzedakah remains a socio-economic system reputed for development in history. In African Christianity, charity is mostly practised at lower levels. This could be one of the reasons for prevailing poverty, beggary, and increased unemployment in Africa. Using the Maimonides highest principle of Tzedakah as the underlying philosophy, this article examines the Tzedakah concept and recommends its applicability in African Neo-Pentecostal churches for the socio-economic development of adherents and surrounding communities. The article posits that Tzedakah’s contemporary practice can be a great model and strategy for the African Neo-Pentecostals to address poverty, unemployment and underdevelopment in Africa.

Towards Making Responsive Development in Governance of African States in the 21st Century and Beyond: Lessons from John Pombe Magufuli

Africa in the lenses of the developed economies is a continent that would not develop. The former USA president Donald Trump called Africa shithole. Africa it is agreed is the richest continent in the world yet the poorest. Africa's underdevelopment is the product of poor leadership since independence. The few good and pragmatic ones were either terminated by the agents of developed economies or eased out through questionable elections. In this group are revolutionaries. The non-revolutionaries but focused were the likes of Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Nelson Mandela, John Magufuli of Tanzania whom this paper is addressing. Others fall into despotic and authoritarian and by extension agents of neo-colonial masters and hydra-corrupt. They would do all things to milk their countries dry and repatriate the funds either for building of castles in developed world or stash it in Swiss banks and other banks abroad while their people are wallowing in poverty and underdevelopment. In this group are found Mobutu Sese Seko of Congo Democratic Republic (Zaire), Marcias Nguema of Equatorial Guinea, Omar Bongos of Gabon, Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo, Houphouet-Boigny of Ivory Coast, Sekou Touré of Guinea, Idi Amin Dada of Uganda, etc. Again, most African heads of state believed that development cannot come to their countries except they rely on the western aid and or borrowing, and of recent from China. Nigeria under Mohammadu Buhari fall under this category. Late John Magufuli had proved that 'theory' wrong. He developed Tanzanian people and economy without western aid, fought corruption and if death had spared him, he would have led Tanzania to greater height than where she is now. The paper concludes that other African leaders should emulate the foot-prints of John Magufuli - for African development. The paper uses historical and multi-disciplinary approach as methodology.

The Lingering Challenges of Underdevelopment in Africa’s and Nigeria: The Root Causes, Impacts and Panacea

The underdevelopment of Africa’s and Nigeria is neither natural nor solely caused by internal contradictions, such as corruption, bad leadership, embezzlement of public funds as argued by some political science scholars even though the aforementioned internal factors plays a very devastating roles on the issue of underdevelopment in Africa. However, Andre G. Frank argued that the Europe and Africa’s were developing at a different pace, until the Europe came and distorted the development of Africa, the idea which Frank called development of underdevelopment in Africa. Nevertheless, it is germane to expose the fact that the underdevelopment of Africa’s and Nigeria was caused or could be traced to internal and external factors such as bad leadership, corruption and highhandedness etc. as the internal factors on one hand, and slavery, colonialism and imperialism, deceptive politics of exploitation of Africa’s surplus values as the external factors on the other hand. However, this paper examined the external causes of underdevelopment in Africa’s and Nigeria, and examined the pattern or process through which the Europe underdeveloped Africa’s and Nigeria. This paper adopted the relative deprivation theory as a model to explaining how Africa’s and Nigeria were deprived of her development, and how her resources were exploited by the Europe, hence, underdevelopment of Africa’s and Nigeria. This paper also adopted the secondary methods of data gathering, as valuable data were retrieved from articles, textbooks, newspapers and internets materials, as those data collected are used to validate the arguments of this study. This paper finally proffers sustainable solutions on how to fall out of the devastating challenges of underdevelopment ravaging Africa’s and Nigeria.

The Lingering Challenges of Underdevelopment in Africa's and Nigeria: The Root Causes, Impacts and Panacea

The Lingering Challenges of Underdevelopment in Africa's and Nigeria: The Root Causes, Impacts and Panacea

Colonial Legacy in Africa: The development and underdevelopment of Africa in the Colonial Era of

Colonial Legacy in Africa: The development and underdevelopment of Africa in the Colonial Era of

Trans- Atlantic Slave Trade and Its Impacts for Modern African

Africa experienced two major crisis in its history; slave trade and colonialism. At a time of both events Africa was integrated into global market in unequal and exploitative ways. But, slave trade in general and trans- Atlantic slave trade in particular lasts for long time and holds the lion share in underdevelopment of Africa. As such, this paper analysis the long term effect of trans-Atlantic slave trade for modern African political economy. To do so, the work employs qualitative research methods and secondary source of data.Before trans-Atlantic slave trade, African peoples were egalitarian, have their own values and civilizations. They were self sufficient and autonomous and there was no huge gap between Africa and Europe. However, Trans -Atlantic slave trade lead to intensification of the gap between Africa and Europe as result of its exploitative nature and deterioration of African values and norms. Hence, large numbers of African were shipped crossing Atlantic Ocean and works on large scale plantation in the new world and these numbers reaches its climax at 18 th c.Trans-Atlantic slave trade brought untold causalities on African political economy at time of its occurrence and even at modern time. Thereby, limitation of African economy to monoculture, perverted institution, and creation of fertile ground for colonialism because of weak and fragmented states, decline in population, disturbing family and reducing fertility rates were the major short term impacts of trans-Atlantic slave trade. Moreover, Trans- Atlantic slave trade also serves as important variable to analysis the modern political economy of Africa because of its long term effect.Accordingly, trans-Atlantic slave trade discourages state formation and this in turn obstructs creation of modern economy, laws and public goods. The current absolutist and patrimonial state existing in Africa also trace their origin to the era of trans-Atlantic slave trade. Trans-Atlantic slave trade also responsible for ethnic stratification existing in Africa today as result of mistrust and break down of social bond between peoples so that it lays the basis for intensification of ethnic conflict in modern Africa. Furthermore, it serves as pre-colonial source of modern corruption and modern racism from which Africa is still suffering.Therefore, lingering problems in modern African political economy embedded within trans-Atlantic slave trade so that it plays crucial role for current underdevelopment of the continent . DOI: 10.7176/IAGS/92-01 Publication date: December 31 st 2021

Legal frameworks for personnel records management in support of accountability in devolved governments: a case of Garissa County Government

Legal frameworks for personnel records management in support of accountability in devolved governments: a case of Garissa County Government

Neglected Aspects in the Understanding of Holistic Development in Africa

How does one explain Africa's underdevelopment when compared with other regions of the world? Over fifty years of independence have little to show for economic progress and poverty has continued to afflict the African population even as it continues to grow. Political instability, economic regress, corruption, and bad governance have been identified as some of the problems facing Africa and keeping it underdeveloped. Yet, I believe that there are still other matters that have been neglected preventing leaders coming up with a holistic vision of development. Attention to these neglected aspects would, most likely, contribute to removing the bottlenecks to more accelerated holistic development of the continent thereby making it possible for Africans to realise abundant life.

Captivating Technology: Race, Carceral Technoscience, and Liberatory Imagination in Everyday Life ed. by Ruha Benjamin

Reviewed by: Captivating Technology: Race, Carceral Technoscience, and Liberatory Imagination in Everyday Life ed. by Ruha Benjamin Jennifer L. Lieberman Ruha Benjamin, ed. Captivating Technology: Race, Carceral Technoscience, and Liberatory Imagination in Everyday Life. Durham: Duke UP, 2019. 416 pp. $29.95. Captivating Technology is a rigorous, imaginative, and impressively multifarious collection of essays. Composed of fourteen chapters, plus a Foreword and Introduction, it astutely critiques different aspects of science and technology that relate to carcerality—and it moves beyond criticism to identify techniques for liberation and resistance. It offers essential contributions to critical race studies, American studies, and science and technology studies. Troy Duster provides the Foreword, illuminating that the racial bias that gets coded into algorithms is only visible within specific cultural contexts. Ruha Benjamin elaborates on this point in her Introduction, "Discriminatory Design, Liberating Imagination," by defining what she calls "The New Jim Code": the use of technologies and policies that appear objective but deceptively extend racist social practices. Benjamin is a master of turning presumptions on their heads, asking such evocative questions as, "Could it be that we don't need technocorrections to make us secure, that we need social insecurity to justify technocorrections?" (2). The chapters that follow share Benjamin's innovative and attentive analysis. They are organized into three parts. "Part I: Carceral Techniques from Plantation to Prison" begins with a chapter by Britt Rusert: "Naturalizing Coercion: The Tuskegee Experiments and the Laboratory Life of the Plantation." This chapter sheds light on the presumptions about blackness and hygiene that informed public health efforts at Tuskegee, ranging from Booker T. Washington's "Negro Health Week" to the notorious syphilis study. Rusert suggests that Walter Rodney's thesis about the underdevelopment of Africa might be expanded to include "uneven development" within the United States (39). This chapter also includes a reading of Charles Chesnutt's The Conjure Tales (1899), which suggests that "African American literature exposed the logic and history of the Tuskegee syphilis study decades before they were uncovered" (41). For example, Rusert argues that Chesnutt's story "Po' Sandy" narrativizes how the plantation functions as a laboratory: By turning into a tree that can be milled into lumber, Po' Sandy allegorizes "how black bodies continued to be acted upon as commodifiable" even after emancipation (43). The second chapter, "Consumed by Disease: Medical Archives, Latino Fictions, and Carceral Health Imaginaries" by Christopher Perreira, also considers fiction as an important object of historical inquiry as it reads Alejandro Morales's The Captain of All These Men of [End Page 258] Death in conversation with the "discourses of racialized disease" that were promulgated within the context of "California public health" (52). The third chapter, "Billions Served: Prison Food Regimes, Nutritional Punishment, and Gastronomical Resistance" by Anthony Ryan Hatch, confronts the little-studied issue of food in prisons. Ryan analyzes everything from the prison farm to the hunger strike, and from the software companies that win exclusive contracts (which are appallingly unregulated by the FDA or USDA) to supply food to prisoners as cheaply as possible to the dubiously hopeful act of food hacking. Chapters four and five both analyze predictive policing. Andrea Miller's "Shadows of War, Traces of Policing: The Weaponization of Space and the Sensible in Preemption" interprets preemptive policing tools such as license-plate readers and PredPol predictive policing software in Atlanta as part of "a speculative military economy" (94). R. Joshua Scannell's "This Is Not Minority Report: Predictive Policing and Population Racism" also examines such tools as PredPol and HunchLab, putting them in conversation with Philip K. Dick's 1956 short story "The Minority Report" and its whitewashed filmic adaptation to interrogate the racial and economic logics that underwrite the assumption that crime can be preempted. Scannell compellingly argues that "Policing does not have a 'racist history.' Policing makes race" (108). "Part II: Surveillance Systems from Facebook to Fast Fashion" begins with chapter six, "Racialized Surveillance in the Digital Service Economy" by Winifred R. Poster. This chapter introduces the useful theoretical concept of "multi-surveillance," which connotes how "consumers [who] may be unified in their aims to counteract surveillance by firms … may surveill [sic] each other for factors like race" (135). Poster...

Book reviews: Robert Guest (2004) “The Shackled Continent: Power, Corruption, and African Lives”

Over the past two decades, extreme poverty has been decreasing in all regions of the world except for sub-Saharan Africa. This attracted the attention of many scholars and policymakers from Africa and other continents of the world to study and understand the reason why Africa has remained so poor. As a result, many scholars have advanced many reasons for poverty and underdevelopment on the continent. However, no consensus is reached among scholars for poverty and underdevelopment of Africa. 'The shackled continent' is one of the books that has attempted to explain the reasons why Africa has remained so poor. The main of this paper was to critically review the book. The shackled continent has critically analyzed and identified many hobbles that have affected the development process in Africa. In this regard, the author assumption is that Africa has remained so poor as a result of several factors which includes failures of leadership, tribal politics, bad governance, impacts of AIDs, resource curse, lack of transparent property rights, ethnic strife, corruption, frequent military coups, and development assistance failures. Guest admits that these reasons to some extent contribute to the Africans' development challenges. However, arguably failures of leadership are the main reason for underdevelopment in Africa. The author argues that global capitalism is merely a solution to Africa's problems. This book has many strengths as well as weaknesses.

Regional Integration and Development in Africa: Between the Rock and a Hard Place

Since independence in the late 1950s, and in the early 1960s, regional integration in Africa has been identified as an important strategy for the acceleration of development in the continent. The reality of the Post-Cold War international economic world order also stimulates the intensification and fine-tuning of existing regional arrangements leading to the establishment of a supra-national organization and capacity building institutions to address the problems of underdevelopment in Africa. As a consequence, numerous integration groupings have been reorganized and created but their achievements have largely been modest due to inappropriate integration approaches. It is against this background that this article examines the interlocking nexus between regional integration and development in Africa, and maintains that Africans need to adjust their orientation as well as take a major shift towards economic complementarity among member states of integration blocs for the actualization of laudable development. It concludes that inward looking and the involvement of all Africans in the regional integration processes would be the best approach for regional integration to foster development.