Designing West Africa: Prelude to 21st Century Calamity [Hardcover]

Peter Schwab (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 7, 2004

Many African countries are now described as "Fourth World nations," ones which essentially have no future. How could this have happened? Through the scope of the 1960s, the first decade of African independence, Peter Schwab presents a compelling and provocative answer to this question. Designing West Africa tells the story of a pivotal decade in African history, when the fate of the continent was decided. Focusing on the six most visible leaders of the period--Sékou Touré, Kwame Nkrumah, and others--Schwab shows how Africa served as a grounds to play out larger international conflicts, namely the Cold War. He does not fall back solely on blaming non-African involvement for the failure to build a viable leadership for the continent; rather, he critiques the African leaders themselves for their individual failings.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Praise for Africa: A Continent Self-Destructs:
"For anyone interested in the reality of Africa, this is the book to read."--Amos Sawyer, President of Liberia, 1990-1994
"Offers brief, invaluable descriptions of several countries’ circumstances...readers will gain much from this astute analysis."--Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Peter Schwab is Professor of Political Science at Purchase College, SUNY, and the author most recently of Africa: A Continent Self-Destructs (Palgrave Macmillan, 2001).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; First Edition edition (May 7, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1403965498
• ISBN-13: 978-1403965493
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,061,403 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Introduction, June 1, 2004

By 

Jonathan Weisman (Brooklyn, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Designing West Africa: Prelude to 21st Century Calamity (Hardcover)

Professor Schwab has long provided us with sound analysis of African politics. While many have begged to differ with his conclusions, all have been charmed by his pithy prose as well as impressed by his solid scholarship and evident love for Africa and her peoples.

The present book follows in the worthy footsteps of its predecessor, AFRICA: A CONTINENT SELF-DESTRUCTS, by shining light on a the formative post-colonial period of the 1960s - a time little known in America - and presenting a "fair and balanced" assessment of the six most significant West African political figures of the period - William V.S. Tubman (Liberia), Felix Houphouet-Boigny (Cote d'Ivoire), Leopold Sedar Senghor (Senegal), Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (Nigeria), Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana), and Sekou Toure (Guinea) - and their influence, for good and for ill, on subsequent history in the subregion. While rightly criticizing the great powers for their Cold War-era conduct, Professor Schwab also courageously critiques the African leaders themselves for their sins of omission and commission. This book is an excellent introduction to West African political history.

The consequences of the malaise whose birth Professor Schwab chronicles can be seen by reference to the more detailed case studies, such those by Professor Amos Sawyer (THE EMERGENCE OF AUTOCRACY IN LIBERIA), Professor Adekeye Adebajo (LIBERIA'S CIVIL WAR), and Professor John Peter Pham (LIBERIA: PORTRAIT OF A FAILED STATE). The first, incidentally, was a former student of Professor's Schwab's.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought-Provoking Account and Analysis, June 3, 2004

By 

Margaret Shaw (Nassau Community College, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Designing West Africa: Prelude to 21st Century Calamity (Hardcover)

Understanding the history and politics of Africa since the 1960s can be an overwhelming undertaking for readers who have never focused on this area of the world or those of us who somehow allowed Africa to slip to the far edge of our radar screens in more recent years. Peter Schwab's most recent book provides a well-organized account of six West African leaders from the time of independence of their respective nations to the end of their periods of leadership, along with an analysis of how each failed to fulfill the promise of those exciting days when African independence was bursting out on the world stage. Dr. Schwab presents an eloquent, well-balanced reading experience that sheds light on the personal strengths and weaknesses of each leader against the backdrop of the Cold War and the remnants of colonialism.

The introduction serves as an excellent overview of the rest of the book and provides valuable background knowledge on the subject. The occasional inclusion of Dr. Schwab's own direct experiences and observations personalizes the historical accounts for the benefit of the reader, as do quotations from other scholars and prominent African authors. The conclusion presents the author's beliefs as to who is to blame for the debacle that affects most of West Africa today as well as what he believes needs to be done to address the problems of this region.

Again, Peter Schwab has provided readers with a clear and well-written book on an important topic.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an excellent introduction to post-colonial West Africa, May 31, 2005

By 

Yaakov Ben Shalom - See all my reviews

This review is from: Designing West Africa: Prelude to 21st Century Calamity (Hardcover)

This book provides an excellent introduction to post-colonial West Africa. It is probably not detailed enough for a specialist, but for the average person looking to learn what happened in West Africa right after decolonization, this is an ideal book. The chapters are short and to-the-point, and the book reads quickly.

Schwab argues that the horrific problems plaguing West Africa today stem from the decisions that the first generation of post-colonial, indigenous leaders made. In particular, he laments that they failed to unite behind a common policy or ideology for independent West Africa (or at least failed to agree to live in peaceful coexistence). West Africa got caught up in Cold War politics and "conservative," francophile states refused to cooperate with "radical," socialist, Pan-Africanist states. And an opportunity for concerted effort was lost, opening the door for selfish pursuit of particularism, made worse by Cold War/superpower-motivated civil wars and assassinations.

Okay, that's Schwab's big picture. For those people not interested in Schwab's theory of West African decline, the book is still very much worth reading. The book provides a nice introduction to what happened in Senegal, Ivory Caost, Nigeria, Liberia, Guinea, and Ghana in the years after achieving independence. Schwab then ties the past to the present. It is an easy read and will familiarize you with the historical and present situation in western Africa.