Africa Unchained: The Blueprint for Africa's Future [Paperback]

George B.N. Ayittey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2006

Why haven't the poorest Africans been able to prosper in the twenty-first century? Celebrated economist George Ayittey thinks the answer is obvious: economic freedom was denied to them, first by foreign colonial powers and now by indigenous leaders with similarly oppressive practices. As war and conflict replaced peace, Africa's infrastructure crumbled. Instead of bemoaning the myriad difficulties facing the continent today, Ayittey boldly proposes a program of development--a way forward--for Africa. Africa Unchained investigates how Africa can modernize, build, and improve its indigenous institutions, and argues forcefully that Africa should build and expand upon traditions of free markets and free trade rather than continuing to use exploitative economic structures. The economic model here is uniquely African and takes little heed from the developed world; this is sure to be a highly controversial plan for moving Africa forward.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A superb analysis of the continent and its recent ordeals"--The Wall Street Journal

 

"A controversial and thought-provoking book"--Ian Taylor, International Affairs

Praise for Ayittey's Africa in Chaos:



"Crucial for anyone seeking an understanding of Africa's condition . . . Read it now, before it's too late." --The Washington Times
". . . robust, provocative...Ayittey takes no prisoners." --The New York Times Book Review
". . . Ayittey knows Africa well...a brave and reflective book." --The Wall Street Journal

Book Description

Why haven't the poorest Africans been able to prosper in the twenty-first century? Celebrated economist George Ayittey thinks the answer is obvious: economic freedom was denied to them, first by foreign colonial powers and now by indigenous leaders. As war and conflict replaced peace, Africa's infrastructure crumbled. Instead of bemoaning the myriad difficulties facing the continent today, Ayittey boldly proposes a program of development--a way forward--for Africa. Africa Unchained investigates how Africa can modernize, build, and improve its indigenous institutions, and argues forcefully that Africa should build and expand upon traditions of free markets and free trade rather than continuing to use exploitative economic structures. The economic model here is uniquely African and takes little heed from the developed world; this is sure to be a highly controversial plan for moving Africa forward.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; New edition edition (September 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1403973865
• ISBN-13: 978-1403973863
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #441,924 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #17 in Books > Law > Taxation > International

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ayittey takes a new fresh look at Africa's future, January 10, 2005

By 

David Fick "Author: Africa: Continent of Econ... (Overland Park, Kansas USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Africa Unchained: The Blueprint for Africa's Future (Hardcover)

In Africa Unchained (January 2005), Ayittey takes a new fresh look at Africa's future and makes a number of daring suggestions.

First, he says economic development requires investment, both foreign and domestic. Investment, however, does not take place in a swamp or vacuum but in an "enabling environment," which must have, among others, the following features: security of persons and property; rule of law; and basic functioning infrastructure.

This environment does not exist in many parts of Africa because of the absence of a few key critical institutions: an independent media, an independent central bank, and an independent judiciary. These institutions are established by civil society or parliament, not by corrupt leaders since they are fundamentally opposed to the establishment of institutions that will check their arbitrary use of power.

Second, looking at how Africa can modernize, build, and improve their indigenous institutions, which have been castigated by African leaders as "backward and primitive," Ayittey argues that Africa should build and expand upon these traditions of free markets and free trade. Asking why the poorest Africans haven't been able to prosper in the 21st century, Ayittey makes the answer obvious: their economic freedom was snatched from them.

War and conflict replaced peace and the infrastructure crumbled. In a book that will be pondered over and argued about as much as his previous volumes, Ayittey looks at the possibilities for indigenous structures to revive a troubled continent.

Reviewed by David S. Fick, Author of Africa: Continent of Economic Opportunities, STE Publishers, Johannesburg SA, May 2005, www.ste.co.za

36 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tough Love for Tough Challenges, March 29, 2005

By 

Dr. J. Peter Pham (Harrisonburg, VA & New York, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Africa Unchained: The Blueprint for Africa's Future (Hardcover)

For too long written off as irrelevant to international affairs except as the stage for proxy conflicts during the Cold War or the recipient for the world's charity, Africa is nonetheless poised to play an increasingly important role in the global community of the 21st century. Within the decade, West Africa alone will provide more than one-fourth of North America's petroleum imports, surpassing the entire Middle East. The continent also boasts the world's fastest population growth: by 2020, there will be an estimated 1.2 billion Africans-more than the combined populations of Europe and North America. Yet despite the dynamic potential implicit in these natural and human resources data, Africa remains the world's economic basket case: per capita GDP is barely $575 while thirty-two of the thirty-six countries classified by the United Nations Development Program are to be found in Africa.

Why this apparent contradiction? Defying the conventional wisdom that has long infantilized Africans by blaming colonial exploitation, superpower rivalries, intergovernmental aid agencies, impersonal market forces-anyone and everyone external to the continent-Dr. George B.N. Ayittey, himself a son of Africa, points his finger at the causes closer to home: the "vampire states" and "coconut republics" whose undemocratic and illegitimate rulers have done more harm to their own people than any external agents. In short, Africa Unchained is an unusually frank truth speaking to power-or rather, a dose of tough love for the tough challenges faced by the nations and peoples of the continent.

Unlike many works on Africa, however, Dr. Ayittey's does not end on a pessimistic note. Rather, he points the way forward by looking back at the continent's own rich history of freedom: free enterprise, free markets, and free trade, by free people organized in free societies. The road ahead, he correctly points out, lies through the past-recovering the authentic, acknowledging the baleful. A provocative thesis, to be sure; but it is one which deserves to be considered by scholars and policymakers.

-Dr. J. Peter Pham, author of Liberia: Portrait of a Failed State

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Coming of the African Cheetah, March 23, 2005

By 

E. Odjidja - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Africa Unchained: The Blueprint for Africa's Future (Hardcover)

It is perplexing to read Ayittey's book and still be aware that some have called him a sell-out. His love for Africa is apparent in this book. His description of the "low level" efficiencies that make Africa work is lovely to read. What he calls the "astonishing degree of functionality, participatory form of democracy, rule of customary law and accountability of the traditional African society," is respectful and easy to applaud. These are words of facts as well as love. He cannot be the Afro-pessimist his detractors sometimes call him. Otherwise, how could he put so much faith in the simple African peasant he calls "Atingah"?

E. Ablorh-Odjidja
www.thisweekghana.com