Africa in Chaos 1st Edition

by George B.N. Ayittey (Author)

21 customer reviews

ISBN-13: 978-0312217877

ISBN-10: 0312217870

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In a follow-up to his ground-breaking Africa Betrayed , George Ayittey takes up the plight of Africa at the end of the twentieth century. As he sees countries like Nigeria go over the edge of economic and social disaster, Ayittey uses his formidable powers of analysis to look at the political economy of Africa, the incursion of foreign powers and the relationship of Africa to the world market. He contrasts the indigenous systems of government that existed in Africa before the arrival of Europeans with the colonial and postcolonial systems that were forced on the country and the effect these systems have had on Africa's inability to move forward. Ayittey's view is dark and, as always, his stinging conclusions will infuriate some and invigorate others. Certain to create controversy, Africa in Chaos is a must-read for fans of Ayittey's earlier work as well as anyone interested in the world economic scene today.

Africa in Chaos

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Product Details

Paperback: 399 pages
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; 1st edition (February 11, 1999)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0312217870
ISBN-13: 978-0312217877
Product Dimensions: 6 x 1 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,504,178 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #817 in Books > Textbooks > Humanities > History > Africa
- #1365 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Politics & Government > International & World Politics > African
- #1428 in Books > Textbooks > Business & Finance > Business Development

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Customer Reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars

5 star		53%
4 star		33%
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Top Customer Reviews

Nkrumah, Nyerere, Kaunda failures all

By Enrique Cardova on July 12, 2004

Format: Paperback

Excellent book by Ayittey showing the yet again the failures of the liberal-left vision, and its cynical collaborators in business and government bureaucracies. Yet again and again Western taxpayers are called upon to prop up these vampire states- money down an endless rathole.
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The "leaders" of many of these failed states have been feted and celebrated in the liberal West, none more so than Nkrumah, Nyerere, and Kaunda. Buit it is all hypocrisy and delusion. Some claim glowing accomplishments by these leaders, but in fact things like high literacy rates are carry-overs from the colonial administrations. In short, the literacy rate and educational opportunities were ALREADY rising rapidly when the colonialists pulled out, rendering claims of "improvement" in these areas suspect. The same pattern is repeated in economic development. Agriculture and industry were ALREADY expanding when the kleptocrats and dictators took over. Under them this progress not only declined but in many cases simply vanished.
As for Nkrumah's or Nyere's much touted educational "progress" and "free" medical care, it was neither progressive or free. What use is "free" when your "health" clinics are chronically short of medicine, and competent staff? Just how much "improvement" is there when you don't have enough money to staff or maintain your "free" institutions to even minimal standards? What use is "education" amid cruimbling schools and unpaid teachers, or when you are herding forcibly herding people into dirty, poverty mired "ujamma" villages to be harangued by party hacks about "African socialism"? When has "socialism" fed starving people?Read more ›

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Pro-Africa; Pro-Africans

By Cashew Son on November 1, 1999

Format: Paperback Verified Purchase

This is a devestating indictment of the small percentage of the African population that keeps the rest uneducated and in poverty. Yet it is Pro-Africa in that the solutions proposed are from the continent's tribal past.
African-Americans, who want a deeper understanding of what is happening in Africa today and why it is different from the pre-colonial past, will appreciate this book. Others, such as Cynthia McKinney and Carol Mosley Braun, who would prefer to rub shoulders with the same leaders who are causing so much harm to their countries, will feel better if they continue to keep their head in the sand.

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All true, but...

By Godfrey Mwakikagile, author, on December 19, 2001

Format: Paperback

Ayittey has written an excellent book. In fact, I'm just as critical of Africa's despotic and kleptocratic regimes in all the books I have written. But I don't entirely agree with his assessment of Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere, and Kenneth Kaunda.
He says his focus is not on the leadership qualities of any of the African leaders but on their policies. It is true that socialism failed to fuel economic growth. But an objective evaluation of what Nkrumah, Nyerere, and Kaunda did, shows that they had some success in a number of areas. Yet, Ayittey has almost nothing good to say about them in his book, "Africa in Chaos." In fact, these are the three leaders of whom he's most critical in his book, devoting several pages to them more than any other African leader.
Under Nkrumah, Ghana had the highest per capita income in sub-Saharan Africa. It was Nkrumah who laid the foundation for modern-day Ghana. He built the infrastructure that has sustained and fuelled Ghana's economic development through the years. It is true that there were also many failures under Nkrumah, and after he was gone; for example institutional decay and crumbling infrastructure. But who built those institutions and the infrastructure?
Nkrumah built schools, hospitals, roads, factories, dams and bridges, railways and harbors. Tens of thousands of people in Ghana who are lawyers, doctors, engineers, nurses, teachers, accountants, agriculturalists, scientists and others wouldn't be what they are today had it not been for the educational opportunities provided by Nkrumah.
Ayittey talks about quality, saying that what mattered during Nkrumah's reign was quantity, not quality. What's the quality of the Ghanaian elite, including Ayittey himself, educated under Nkrumah? Are they not as good as anybody else?Read more ›

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Good Start but more is needed

By A Customer on March 13, 2001

Format: Paperback

I have to commend Mr. Ayittey for writing from fresh point of view. I liked the fact that he emphasized that Africa has to look inwards to solve its problems. I have two problems with the book a) Small factual mistakes which may not be serious but never the less undermine the confidence in the author's littany of figures and facts. One such example is the dedication to Mr. Joe Modise which the author claimed to be dead but an other reviewer mentioned that he is well and alive. One mistake I noticed is that the author said that North Somalia was colonized by the Italians and Southern Somalia by the British when the fact is exactly the opposite. b) The Author built a good case that African leaders are to blame for the misery in Africa. I kept asking myself through out the book "but what caused the majority of African leaders to take the wrong path?" I waited and waited for an answer through the whole book but the only explanation that Mr. Ayittey could come up was to fall back to the very thing that he claimed very vociferously at the start of the book that he is against, to blame colonialism. He explained the failure of African leaders is due to the fact that they are product of colonialism. I believe that Mr. Ayittey did dileneate the problems clearly and he did offer the obvious solutions but his analysis of the causes of the problems were not deep enough, even though I believe is started the right discussion, the debate of interaction of western/alien ideas and African ways of self rule. Also as an other reviewer put it, the Author should put himself in the shoes of millions of Africans who fight daily ( and lose their lifes often) for the ideals he is spousing.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

Five Stars

Well written and clear novel

Published 7 months ago by Lwazi

Five Stars

Our fault

Published 18 months ago by LeeS

AFRICAN CRISIS

Africa in Chaos is an excellent book that chronicles the history of post colonial leaders whose interest was in themselves and their wealth but no interests in the education and... Read more

Published on September 20, 2011 by Harold

What is wrong with Sub-Saharan Africa ...

People of the world do not have much knowledge on what is happening in Africa today or what happened in the past, especially here in Latin America. Read more

Published on December 12, 2007 by Luis Mansilla

Africa is Chaos

It has been said that there is nothing new in this book. Africa indeed has problems. That is exactly the point of this book and Keith Richburg's "Out of America. Read more

Published on May 19, 2001

A long overdue expose' of African kleptocracies...

...and a much-needed counterblast to their towel boys in TransAfrica, The Nation of Islam, and too many American universities. Read more

Published on August 25, 2000 by The Sanity Inspector

Africa needs more than this

I think there is nothing new in the book. If one has been following African politics, this book is just is another record of what goes on in Africa and it does not really help in... Read more

Published on August 16, 2000

Wake up call

I enjoyed reading this book, because it helped me understand the political situation in Africa. The author should be commended on his bravery to write such an honest and... Read more

Published on August 10, 2000 by Rohan

Africa in Chaos

It takes some one with guts and intellectual acumen like Prof. Ayittey to break away from the pack of intellecutal hypochrites and patronizing nabobs in exposing forcibly Africa's... Read more

Published on November 24, 1999 by agyenim boateng

A sensationalized account of Africa's problems.

Ayittey has written a thinly disquised traveloque in which he often gets the facts wrong. His subsequent analysis is sensational and overly generalized - it seems to be based... Read more

Published on November 5, 1999

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