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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Black Africa and the Dilemma of Development |
Author: | Osia, Kunirum |
Year: | 1987 |
Periodical: | Journal of African Studies (UCLA) |
Volume: | 14 |
Issue: | 2 |
Period: | Summer |
Pages: | 37-45 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | Subsaharan Africa Africa |
Subjects: | development Development and Technology |
Abstract: | It is more than two decades since several black African nations became politically independent. What has remained constant over this period has been their political fragility and economic underdevelopment. This paper examines this question and hypothesizes that, since black African problems are multiple, solutions to the problems cannot be realized by the imposition of or experimentation with single, frequently conflicting ideologies of development. After an examination of European mercantilism and colonialism and a review of Western development studies, the author turns to an indigenous development model, elaborated by the Indian political theorist Vrajenda Raj Mehta. He argues that neither liberal democracy nor communism is an appropriate framework for Third World development, and that a conception of man and society should be multidimensial and incorporate the objective, the subjective, the ethical, and the spiritual. The paper applies this model to black Africa and reviews some of the major problem areas there. Ref. |