Season of Rains: Africa in the World - Hardcover

Ellis, Stephen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0226205592 ISBN 13: 9780226205595

Verlag: UNIV OF CHICAGO PR, 2012

Inhaltsangabe

Book by Ellis Stephen

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Críticas:

"[Ellis] succeeds brilliantly in showing that the need to find a new way of understanding African politics is neither a merely academic question, nor a reason for the rest of the world to disengage with Africa. For while African states since the ending of empire may not be exemplars of sovereign virtue and while some may remain seemingly bottomless pits for the rich world's largesse, they are, nonetheless, integral parts of the planet's social, political, economic, and natural environment. What happens in Africa matters for everyone, not just Africans. . . .The author engages the subject from a decidedly African perspective, based on a deep knowledge and commitment to the continent and its people."--Adam Ashforth, University of Michigan

Reseña del editor:

Africa is playing a more important role in world affairs than ever before. Yet the most common images of Africa in the American mind are ones of poverty, starvation, and violent conflict. But while these problems are real, that does not mean that Africa is a lost cause. Instead, as Stephen Ellis explains in "Season of Rains," we need to rethink Africa's place in time if we are to understand it in all its complexity--it is a region where growth and prosperity coexist with failed states. This engaging, accessible book by one of the world's foremost researchers on Africa captures the broad spectrum of political, economic, and social foundations that make Africa what it is today.Ellis is careful not to position himself in the futile debate between Afro-optimists and Afro-pessimists. The forty-nine diverse nations that make up sub-Saharan Africa are neither doomed to fail nor destined to succeed. As he assesses the challenges of African sovereignties, Ellis is not under the illusion that governments will suddenly become more benevolent and less corrupt. Yet, he sees great dynamism in recent technological and economic developments. The proliferation of mobile phones alone has helped to overcome previous gaps in infrastructure, African retail markets are becoming integrated, and banking is expanding. Businesses from China and emerging powers from the West are investing more than ever before in the still land-rich region, and globalization is offering possibilities of enormous economic change for the growing population of one billion Africans, actively engaged in charting the future of their continent.This highly readable survey of the continent today offers an indispensable guide to how money, power, and development are shaping Africa's future.

Über diese Auflage

• Verlag: UNIV OF CHICAGO PR
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0226205592
• ISBN 13: 9780226205595
• Einband: Tapa dura
• Anzahl der Seiten: 215