Africa S Critical Choices

This volume examines contemporary Africa, a vast continent which, while entering the era of globalization, is also confronted by a number of issues, including the environment and climate change, demographics, trade issues, internal and external migration, education, economic Issues, governance, and the influence of other countries. Written by former Prime Minister of Niger and current Chief Executive Officer of the Secretariat of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), Dr Ibrahim Assane Mayaki, this book offers an overview of Africa, and looks to the next generation of leaders in the continent, aiming to offer a manifesto for future change.

"In this volume African scholars examine the current grave agricultural situation in many parts of Africa. Starting from the proposition that agriculture must be central in any African development strategy, the authors assess the diverse experiments and experiences of Algeria, Ethiopia, the Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania and Tunisia and seek pointers for the future. Why have some countries' agricultural policies been mote successful than others? What should be the relationship between food production and export-oriented agriculture? What sort of industrialization should be pursued? How can industry best contribute to agriculture without producing a yet greater exodus from the land? What kind of planning has been effective and where? They argue that greater African autonomy from the international system--politically, economically, technologically and financially--is vital to the achievement of autocentred development. A new development strategy of this kind would be geared primarily to the needs of the people in each country rather than to the world's demand for African raw materials. To be realized in practice this needs greater democratization of society internally, along with co-operation and unity among African states."--Publisher description.

Excerpt from Charting a Course: Strategic Choices for a New Administration: The new administration takes office in a time of great complexity. Our new President faces a national security environment shaped by strong currents: globalization; the proliferation of new, poor, and weak states, as well as nonstate actors; an enduring landscape of violent extremist organizations; slow economic growth; the rise of China and a revanchist Russia; a collapsing Middle East; and a domestic politics wracked by division and mistrust. While in absolute terms the Nation and the world are safer than in the last century, today the United States finds itself almost on a permanent war footing, engaged in military operations around the world. [...] No formal document describes a grand strategy for the United States, and indeed, many academics deny that one exists. Yet a close look at our history as a world power suggests that core interests and how we secure them have remained generally consistent over time. If grand strategy "rises above particular strategies intended to secure particular objectives," many decades of focusing on nuclear deterrence, power projection, alliances and partnerships, and military and economic strength probably constitute the underpinnings of a coherent grand strategy. How we employ and leverage these instruments of national power to protect, defend, and advance the national interest is, after all, the essence of grand strategy. In a dangerous world, these pillars have provided a strong foundation for national security. If our domestic politics can achieve consensus on future threats and solutions, America is well positioned to lead and prosper in a world that will remain both dangerous and uncertain. R.D. Hooker, Jr. Director, Institute for National Strategic Studies National Defense University Washington, D.C. Related items: Policy Analysis in National Security Affairs: New Methods for a New Era can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-020-01561-0 Operationalizing Counter Threat Finance Strategies can be found here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/sku/008-000-01131-1

The Handbook of Alternative Theories of Economic Development explores the theories and approaches which, over a prolonged period of time, have existed as viable alternatives to today’s mainstream and neo-classical tenets. With a total of 40 specially commissioned chapters, written by the foremost authorities in their respective fields, this volume represents a landmark in the field of economic development. It elucidates the richness of the alternative and sometimes misunderstood ideas which, in different historical contexts, have proved to be vital to the improvement of the human condition. The subject matter is approached from several complementary perspectives. From a historical angle, the Handbook charts the mercantilist and cameralist theories that emerged from the Renaissance and developed further during the Enlightenment. From a geographical angle, it includes chapters on African, Chinese, Indian, and Muslim approaches to economic development. Different schools are also explored and discussed including nineteenth century US development theory, Marxist, Schumpeterian, Latin American structuralism, regulation theory and world systems theories of development. In addition, the Handbook has chapters on important events and institutions including The League of Nations, The Havana Charter, and UNCTAD, as well as on particularly influential development economists. Contemporary topics such as the role of finance, feminism, the agrarian issue, and ecology and the environment are also covered in depth. This comprehensive Handbook offers an unrivalled review and analysis of alternative and heterodox theories of economic development. It should be read by all serious scholars, teachers and students of development studies, and indeed anyone interested in alternatives to development orthodoxy.

Assesses the influence of family and school on African American students' college decision-making processes.

Choice and Conscience offers a fresh and insightful perspective on the highly debated issue of conscientious objection in abortion care. Satang Nabaneh’s socio-legal approach, which draws on both traditional legal scholarship and African feminist intellectual traditions, provides a nuanced understanding of how legal norms construct and maintain power relations. By focusing on the experiences of nurses in South Africa, Nabaneh explores the complexities of conscience, discretionary power, and socio-cultural and political factors that influence nurses’ decisions about whether or not to conscientiously object. In the wake of the recent rollback of abortion rights in the United States and the trend towards liberalisation within the African region, Nabaneh provides an important African perspective on how the international human rights framework should strike a contextual balance between freedom of conscience and ensuring access to abortion. Choice and Conscience will interest lawyers, activists, policymakers, scholars, and students exploring the dynamic intersections of law, healthcare, and gender politics. Choice and Conscience … stands as a significant and valuable addition to the ongoing global scholarship on this critical issue. It underscores the vital concept that intersectionality should occupy a central place in our examination of how various local contexts give rise to layered forms of privilege and disadvantage. Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health … Nabaneh’s study of “law in action” zeros in on South African nurses--gatekeepers who often object to the practice for reasons of “conscience.” Her interviews of these nurses and her analysis complicate our understanding of challenges to abortion access, providing lessons applicable not only to South Africa and other African countries, but everywhere where there is a gap between formal law and its application. Mindy Jane Roseman, JD, PhD, Yale Law School Written from an African feminist perspective, this book offers fresh insights into our understanding of the intersection between politics, mobilisation of discretionary power and the exercise of conscientious objection to abortion by mid-level providers. Charles Ngwena, Professor of Law, Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria This book offers powerful insights about how informal and background norms in health systems function constrain or enable reproductive justice. Focusing on conscientious objection to abortion by nurses (including midwives) in South Africa, Nabaneh sketches the importance of a feminist analysis that is situated in Africans’ lived realities. Alicia Ely Yamin, Harvard University

This open access handbook analyses the role of development cooperation in achieving the 2030 Agenda in a global context of 'contested cooperation'. Development actors, including governments providing aid or South-South Cooperation, developing countries, and non-governmental actors (civil society, philanthropy, and businesses) constantly challenge underlying narratives and norms of development. The book explores how reconciling these differences fosters achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Sachin Chaturvedi is Director General at the Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), a New Delhi, India-based think tank. Heiner Janus is a researcher in the Inter- and Transnational Cooperation programme at the German Development Institute. Stephan Klingebiel is Chair of the Inter- and Transnational Cooperation programme at the German Development Institute and Senior Lecturer at the University of Marburg, Germany. Xiaoyun Li is Chair Professor at China Agricultural University and Honorary Dean of the China Institute for South-South Cooperation in Agriculture. Prof. Li is the Chair of the Network of Southern Think Tanks and Chair of the China International Development Research Network. André de Mello e Souza is a researcher at the Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPEA), a Brazilian governmental think tank. Elizabeth Sidiropoulos is Chief Executive of the South African Institute of International Affairs. She has co-edited Development Cooperation and Emerging Powers: New Partners or Old Patterns (2012) and Institutional Architecture and Development: Responses from Emerging Powers (2015). Dorothea Wehrmann is a researcher in the Inter- and Transnational Cooperation programme at the German Development Institute.