Governance and Democracy in Africa

Guseh and Oritsejafor have produced an innovative text that surveys African politics using a political economy approach.  Instead of focusing on how African political leaders have constructed various versions of 'failed states,' the authors bring an African perspective to the question of how states govern impoverished citizens while accumulating enormous wealth from the natural resources of the continent.  This study encompasses the continent as a whole, demonstrating that the economic dynamics of North Africa are not distinct from the sub-Saharan region.  The authors provide a quantitative analysis of African trade that reveals how the continent fits into the global capitalist system.  This analysis also demonstrates how transparent structures of power, and respect for human rights, contributes to “development” and reducing income inequalities. At a time when the most productive African states are the ones that generate the greatest inequality, this book invites a conversation about how Africans can manage state structures to redefine development for the benefit of the people of Africa as a whole. -- Allan Cooper, North Carolina Central University
Governance and Democracy in Africa is an outstanding contribution to the scholarly literature on development studies and addresses some of the social, political and economic factors that are inhibiting democratic consolidation in Africa, providing a comprehensive overview of how these factors have contributed to regime changes on the continent. By providing case studies on democratic consolidation in South Africa, Ghana, and Nigeria, and on continental framework that began with the Monrovia Plan, this book provides a continental and sub-regional response to the challenges of democratic consolidation and development in Africa. -- Andrew Ewoh, Texas Southern University