Our Continent Our Future

Our Continent, Our Future: African perspectives on structural adjustme

The emerging African prespective on the complex issue of structural adjustment is here analysed. It answers the major challenge for Africans themselves to lead the reform process which has been dominated by external ideas and models. The editors, two of Africa's top scholars, provide a succinct yet comprehensive synthesis of the adjustment debate from a truly African perspective, supported by thirty individual studies, twenty-five of which are from top economists and scholars from every corner of Africa. For decades now, many African countries have implemented the structural adjustment programs of the Bretton Woods Institution. And yet extreme poverty and underdevelopment continue to plague what is becoming the world's forgotten continent. Responding to this need for a new approach from within, the editors articulate a path for the future, underscoring the need to be sensitive to each other's unique history and current condition. They argue for a broader policy agenda and for a much more active role for the state within what is largely a market economy.

African Voices on Structural Adjustment presents 14 in-depth studies on the history and future of structural adjustment in Africa. Each study appraises the performance of structural adjustment policies (SAPs) with respect to a particular sector or issue. Each evaluates the compatibility of SAPs with the requirements for long-term development in Africa. And, most importantly, each presents a truly African perspective. The contributors represent an outstanding collection of leading African economists and development experts. This volume is intended as a companion to Our Continent, Our Future. It will appeal to students, professors, academics, and researchers in development, economics, and African studies; professionals in donor organizations around the world; and economic policymakers in both the governmental and non-governmental sectors

This open access textbook offers a critical introduction to human and economic development prospects in Africa revolving around three questions: where is Africa today, what explains the current state, and, given historical trends and what we know about the world, where do we think the continent will be in 2040? And, a final question: what can we do to create a better tomorrow? It models ambitious progress in health, demographics, agriculture, education, industrialization, technological leapfrogging, increased trade, greater stability, better governance and external support. The book reviews the future of work/jobs, poverty and the impact of climate change. A combined Closing the Gap scenario presents a forecast of what could be possible by 2040. Each chapter suggests which policies might accelerate prospects for each sector. Written in an accessible style, and supported by a range of pedagogical features, this textbook introduces undergraduate and graduate students to the contemporary human and economic development prospects in Africa.

Tar Sands critically examines the frenzied development in the Canadian tar sands and the far-reaching implications for all of North America. Bitumen, the sticky stuff that ancients used to glue the Tower of Babel together, is the world’s most expensive hydrocarbon. This difficult-to-find resource has made Canada the number-one supplier of oil to the United States, and every major oil company now owns a lease in the Alberta tar sands. The region has become a global Deadwood, complete with rapturous engineers, cut-throat cocaine dealers, Muslim extremists, and a huge population of homeless individuals. In this award-winning book, a Canadian bestseller, journalist Andrew Nikiforuk exposes the disastrous environmental, social, and political costs of the tar sands, arguing forcefully for change. This updated edition includes new chapters on the most energy-inefficient tar sands projects (the steam plants), as well as new material on the controversial carbon cemeteries and nuclear proposals to accelerate bitumen production.

“For anyone who wants to understand how the African economy really works, The Bright Continent is a good place to start” (Reuters). Dayo Olopade knew from personal experience that Western news reports on conflict, disease, and poverty obscure the true story of modern Africa. And so she crossed sub-Saharan Africa to document how ordinary people deal with their daily challenges. She found what cable news ignores: a continent of ambitious reformers and young social entrepreneurs driven by kanju—creativity born of African difficulty. It’s a trait found in pioneers like Kenneth Nnebue, who turned cheap VHS tapes into the multimillion-dollar film industry Nollywood. Or Ushahidi, a technology collective that crowdsources citizen activism and disaster relief. A shining counterpoint to conventional wisdom, The Bright Continent rewrites Africa’s challenges as opportunities to innovate, and celebrates a history of doing more with less as a powerful model for the rest of the world. “[An] upbeat study of development in Africa . . . The book is written more in wonder at African ingenuity than in anger at foreign incomprehension.” —The New Yorker “A hopeful narrative about a continent on the rise.” —The New York Times Book Review

“An impressive synthesis of current literature in African history, making it understandable and relevant.” —Jan Bender Shetler, author of Imagining Serengeti: A History of Landscape Memory in Tanzania from Earliest Times to the Present Africa’s Past, Our Future engages the history of the African continent through the perspective of global issues such as political instability, economic development, and climate change. Since the past may offer alternative models for thinking about our collective future, this book promotes an appreciation for African social, economic, and political systems that have endured over the long-term and that offer different ways of thinking about a sustainable future. Introducing readers to the wide variety of sources from which African history is constructed, the book’s ten chapters cover human evolution, the domestication of plants and animals, climate change, social organization, the slave trade and colonization, development, and contemporary economics and politics. “Smythe not only provides an excellent survey of the latest research on Africa’s past, she also presents a concise and clear argument as to why this history is relevant today.” ?African Studies Review “Recommended.” ?Choice “Grapples with the narratives and facts and where they fit in global perspective, but why this is all salient and critically meaningful to our lives today in terms of lessons we can learn and ideas we can borrow. This is a unique approach not yet available on the market.” ?Catherine Cymone Fourshey, Susquehanna University