The Failure and Feasibility of Capitalism in Africa

This book argues that capitalism has practically failed to deliver the long-desired economic transformation and inclusive development in postcolonial Africa. The principal factor that accounts for this failure is the prolific non-productive forms of capitalism that tend to be dominant in the African continent and their governance dimensions. The research explores how and why capitalism has failed in the African context and the feasibility of turning it around. The book meets the demands of diverse audiences in the fields of International Political Economy, Development Economics, Political Science, and African Studies. The author adopts an unconventional narrativist approach that makes the book amenable to general readership. Kenneth Omeje is Director of Manifold Crown Consulting Services based in Bradford, UK, and Visiting Professor at the Institute of Peace and Security Studies in Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.

Auteur

Kenneth Omeje is Director of Manifold Crown Consulting Services based in Bradford, UK, and Visiting Professor at the Institute of Peace and Security Studies in Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. He is also an Extraordinary Professor of Development Studies at the University of South Africa (UNISA).

Contenu

1. Capitalism and the African Context1.1. Introduction: The Capitalist Political Economy1.2. Capitalism in the African Context: A Historical Perspective1.3. Indigenous Capitalism, Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and the First Scramble forAfrica1.4. Frontier Capitalism of Colonial Africa: The Second Scramble for Africa
2. The Post-Colonial State: From Frontier Capitalism to Neocolonial Capitalism2.1. Political Decolonisation and Neocolonial Capitalism2.2. The Convoluted Legacies of Colonialism and the Economies of the Post-ColonialStates2.3. Explanations for the Rise of the Asian Economies and the African Context2.4. The Counternarrative about Failed Capitalism in Africa
3. The French Africa Connection and the Refusal to Decolonise3.1. Contextualising the Connection3.2. Independence without Monetary Sovereignty3.3. Vociferous Narratives about the French Africa Connection
4. Natural Resources and Rentier Capitalism4.1. The Hope of Prosperity4.2. Resource Curse4.3. Resource Rents and Rentier State4.4. Rentier Stakes and Stakeholders: A New Conceptual Explanation4.5. Stakeholder Politics and Accumulation in Rentier Capitalism
5. Dysfunctional Versions of Capitalism and the Political Economy of Eating5.1. The Institutional and Policy Framework5.2. The Dysfunctioning Process5.3. Versions of Dysfunctional Capitalism in Africa5.4. Some Governance Dimensions of Dysfunctionality5.5. A Postscript on Dysfunctional capitalism
6. Key Governance Dimensions of Dysfunctionality6.1. The Seriousness and Decisiveness of Governance6.2. Fetish Celebration of Small Things and the Dramatization of Unseriousness6.3. Political Violence and Politics of the Unserious
7. Africa: China Africa Relations: Averting the Risk of Deepening Subaltern Capitalism7.1. The Subaltern Context7.2. The International Context and Historical Phases of China's Engagement with Africa7.3. Evaluating the Contemporary China - Africa Relations
8. Productive Forms of Capitalism: Trends and Prospects8.1. The Philosophical Context8.2. The Marginalised Productive Forms of Capitalism in Africa8.3. The Feasibility of Entrepreneurial Capitalism in Africa8.4. Further Thoughts on Prospects of Accelerated Capitalist Development in Africa
9. Postscript on Covid-19 in Africa9.1. The Covid-19 Pandemic9.2. Predictions and Economic Impact9.3. Approach, Intervention and Support