Africa in the 21st Century offers a comprehensive review of development prospects in each of the major development sectors.

Takes an in-depth look at twenty-six economic and social development successes in Sub-Saharan African countries, and addresses how these countries have overcome major developmental challenges.

This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the African Union during the organization’s first ten years of existence. It takes the reader through the various intergovernmental processes that preceded and followed the establishment of the Union and through the workings of key organs such as the Assembly of Heads of State, the Council of Ministers, the Pan African Parliament and the Commission. The study argues that the African Union represented a rational choice of its member states, who saw it as a means to advancing their individual and collective preferences for liberation, peace and security, good governance and socio-economic development. It maintains that the African Union did not only make marked progress in a number of areas; the Union also established norms that had transformational effects on military and political elites at country and regional levels. However, like in most agent-principal relations, the autonomy of the Union was limited in many ways, and this affected the Union’s effectiveness in such areas as human and socio-economic development, as well as in sustaining peace support operations. At a more general level, the study argues that the African Union offers clear insights into integration as a multidimensional process that no single theoretical tradition can explain in a comprehensive manner. The author’s response to such a theoretical limitation is “fusionism”, an integrated approach that amalgamates various analytical traditions in order to provide a better explanation of the processes of international integration. The detailed analysis and bold proposals will undoubtedly make the study appealing not only to specialists in African Studies, but equally to a broader spectrum of international relations and development scholars.

Wangari Maathai, founder of The Green Belt Movement, tells its story including the philosophy behind it, its challenges, and objectives.

Leaders of the African liberation movements proclaimed ambitious objectives and promised swift dismantling of colonial policies and practices. It was believed that poverty and underdevelopment were consequences of the exploitative policies of the colonial masters, who had no interest in improving living conditions for local communities. Independence and freedom were anticipated to eradicate poverty, ignorance and disease, and the new leadership would accelerate economic development and prosperity. However, after more than 50 years of independence, most African countries are still poor and underdeveloped and this poses a few questions: Have African leaders abandoned their ambitions? Are African challenges more complex than in other regions? Has the political leadership failed to rise to the challenge? In his relentless pursuit of African excellence and development, Professor Lumkile Wiseman Nkuhlu offers profound insights and solutions to the challenges Africa has faced and continues to encounter. He wrestles with the vexing question of how a continent with such a rich history and heritage, as well as potential, remains an underperforming region of the world and offers insights into potential pathways and strategies for breaking free from the vicious cycle of underdevelopment. Africa can become the world's production powerhouse in the second half of this century, provided that intentional and purposeful leadership emerges. Purposeful Leadership for Africa in the 21st Century delves into the leadership strategies, qualities and policies needed for an African renewal, aiming to reposition the continent as a strategic and competitive global player.

This book took the task of conceptualizing the change of African Civilization in the 21st century. It examines African Civilization and its encounters in view of the last 500 years of European and American slavery, exploitation and diplomatic paralysis. In post-colonial Africa (1960-2014), foreign powers have more influence on Africa. However, Africa cannot claim to have the diplomatic prestige to influence European, American or Asian powers. The overwhelming challenges that Africa has been experiencing did attract global reaction ranging from military intervention, diplomatic push or pull (rarely in between), and frequent humanitarian involvements. It is still inconclusive if global attention on Africa has had impact as much as it has been a stomping ground for advisors, donors, politicians, international agencies and a phalanx of well-meaning NGOs. However, their impact can be exemplified by the fact that in Sub-Saharan Africa, every second individual still does not have access to fresh water and electricity in the 21st century. In this book, the focus is put on Sub-Saharan Africa, where every other habitant has no access to fresh water and electricity. In this book, the following modernization strategies are recognized and discussed in Africa today: Westernizatio, Africanization, Chinezation, and Globalization. The evaluation of these policies is done with the civilization approach which is characterized by a big-picture view of the integration of society, culture (including religion), and infrastructure over a long period of time on a large territory. Furthermore, in the 21st century, global civilization are forming and penetrating contemporary civilizations such as: Western, Eastern, Chinese, Japanese, Islamic, Buddhist, Hindu, and African enforcing the development of large scale global businesses and capital. In such a context, should African Civilization follow the questionable policy of Westernization and Globalization? Or should it not follow these challenges and avoid the temptations of fast development and look rather towards the Africanization approach, which could make it last longer than the so called more modern, mentioned civilizations. These kinds of considerations are debated in this book.

Africa in the 21st Century: Toward a New Future brings together some of the finest Pan African and Afrocentric intellectuals to discuss the possibilities of a new future where the continent claims its own agency in response to the economic, social, political, and cultural problems which are found in every nation. The volume is structured around four sections: I. African Unity and Consciousness: Assets and Challenges; II. Language, Information, and Education; III. African Women, Children and Families; and IV. Political and Economic Future of the African World. In original essays, the authors raise the level of discourse around the questions of integration, pluralism, families, a federative state, and good governance. Each writer sees in the continent the potential for greatness and therefore articulates a theoretical and philosophical approach to Africa that constructs a victorious consciousness from hard concrete facts. This book will interest students and scholars of the history and politics of Africa as well as professional Africanists, Africologists, and international studies scholars who are inclined toward Africa.

Our Continent, Our Future presents the emerging African perspective on this complex issue. The authors use as background their own extensive experience and a collection of 30 individual studies, 25 of which were from African economists, to summarize this African perspective and articulate a path for the future. They underscore the need to be sensitive to each country'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. Finally, they stress that Africa must, and can, compete in an increasingly globalized world and, perhaps most importantly, that Africans must assume the leading role in defining the continent's development agenda.

The People's Republic of China once limited its involvement in African affairs to building an occasional railroad or port, supporting African liberation movements, and loudly proclaiming socialist solidarity with the downtrodden of the continent. Now Chinese diplomats and Chinese companies, both state-owned and private, along with an influx of Chinese workers, have spread throughout Africa. This shift is one of the most important geopolitical phenomena of our time. China and Africa: A Century of Engagement presents a comprehensive view of the relationship between this powerful Asian nation and the countries of Africa. This book, the first of its kind to be published since the 1970s, examines all facets of China's relationship with each of the fifty-four African nations. It reviews the history of China's relations with the continent, looking back past the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949. It looks at a broad range of areas that define this relationship—politics, trade, investment, foreign aid, military, security, and culture—providing a significant historical backdrop for each. David H. Shinn and Joshua Eisenman's study combines careful observation, meticulous data analysis, and detailed understanding gained through diplomatic experience and extensive travel in China and Africa. China and Africa demonstrates that while China's connection to Africa is different from that of Western nations, it is no less complex. Africans and Chinese are still developing their perceptions of each other, and these changing views have both positive and negative dimensions.