Beyond the 'African Tragedy'

Well researched and insightful, this volume examines the historical and contemporary discourse on African development and the continent's place in the global economy. The chapters critically explore the roles played by various global and local social forces in the construction of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), offering critical insights on financing for development, the WTO and agriculture, ICTs and FDIs and the war on terrorism. NEPAD has been endorsed by the African Union, the Group of Eight and the United Nations System in order to address Africa's deficit through the forging of a global development partnership. This timely resource is suitable for students and policy makers concerned with development in the African post-colonies.

Malinda S. Smith is Associate Professor of International Relations and Comparative Politics (Africa) in the Department of Political Science at the University of Alberta, Canada, where she coordinates the Certificate in Globalization and Governance. Dr Smith also serves on the executive of the interdisciplinary Middle East and African Studies Program (MEAS) in the Faculty of Arts.

Contents: Preface; Discourses on development and the global economy: beyond the 'African tragedy', Malinda S. Smith. Part 1 Discourses on Development and Governance: Discourses on development from dependency to neoliberalism, Francis Owusu; Towards a political economy of African development discourse, Jìmí O. Adésínà; Towards a critique of the political economy of NEPAD, Ishmael Lesufi; When 'good economics' does not make good sense, Ian Taylor; Towards humanising governance in the African political space, Adekunle Amuwo; The seductive discourses of development and good governance, Cosmas Mbuh; Global governance of HIV/AIDS and development, Obijiofor Aginam. Part 2 African Development and the Global Economy: Globalization, the Cotonou agreement, and the African Union, Chaldeans Mensah; Gender, Financing for development and poverty reduction, Zo Randriamaro; Accumulating capital for African development, Abdella Abdou; Challenges of foreign direct investment flows to Africa, Simon Pierre Siqué and Jacob W. Musila; The World Trade Organization, global trade and agriculture, Korbla Peter Puplampu; Information and communications technologies (ICTs) and African development, Patience Akpan-Obong; Bibliography; Index.