The Politics of Africa's Economic Stagnation

by Judith Barker and Richard Sandbrook

Book Overview

African states are not, in any real sense, capitalist states. Elsewhere, the state has played a crucial role in facilitating capitalist expansion, but in postcolonial Africa one finds a form of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0521319617
• ISBN13: 9780521319614
• Release Date: November 1985
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 200 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A solid explanation for Africa's economic failure

Sandbrook looks at the disappointments of independence, the reasons for the failure of capitalism, colonial roots of contemporary problems, class and tribal issues, the phenomenon of personal rule and neo-patrimonialism, and how citizens survive under disfunctional governments. The book is well written, easy to read, and offers some thoughts on why Africa didn't do better after independence.