Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject Business economics - Economic Policy, grade: 1,8, Berlin School of Economics, course: Political Economy and Social Structure of Modern Society, 10 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: The text "Demographic Transition in the Context of Africa's Development" by Uche C. Isiugo-Abanihe deals with Africa's development dilemma and the demographic transformation-process. The text says that since the 1950's there is a big population explosion in Africa because of a rapidly declining mortality rate and a high or stable fertility rate. The author figures out that there are three theories that cause Africa's development dilemma. The first one says that the population growth is the root of all the problems in Africa. The second one says, that population growth only place an accomplice role and that there are other problems leading mainly to the dilemma. And the third one says that Africa does not face any population problems at all. The author sticks to the second opinion and says, that there are many reasons (not only the population growth), which lead to Africa's problems. He thinks that poor management and organization, unequal distribution of wealth and political power, corruption and misappropriation of funds, massive military spending and misallocation and misdirection of resources and efforts all together added up to the development dilemma. This is definitely a point I would agree with. Abanihe also says that it is "the failure of many African governments to achieve well-planned and well-intentioned development goals and objectives. So in general I think his text gives a very good but general insight into Africa's situation to the time, when the text was written. A thing I'd like to criticize is the fact that Abanihe completely lefts out to mention the development assistance of western countries, that is distributed to Africa and that he does not go very much into detail with his suggestions for

Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject Business economics - Economic Policy, grade: 1,8, Berlin School of Economics, course: Political Economy and Social Structure of Modern Society, language: English, abstract: The text “Demographic Transition in the Context of Africa’s Development” by Uche C. Isiugo-Abanihe deals with Africa’s development dilemma and the demographic transformation-process. The text says that since the 1950’s there is a big population explosion in Africa because of a rapidly declining mortality rate and a high or stable fertility rate. The author figures out that there are three theories that cause Africa’s development dilemma. The first one says that the population growth is the root of all the problems in Africa. The second one says, that population growth only place an accomplice role and that there are other problems leading mainly to the dilemma. And the third one says that Africa does not face any population problems at all. The author sticks to the second opinion and says, that there are many reasons (not only the population growth), which lead to Africa’s problems. He thinks that poor management and organization, unequal distribution of wealth and political power, corruption and misappropriation of funds, massive military spending and misallocation and misdirection of resources and efforts all together added up to the development dilemma. This is definitely a point I would agree with. Abanihe also says that it is “the failure of many African governments to achieve well-planned and well-intentioned development goals and objectives. So in general I think his text gives a very good but general insight into Africa’s situation to the time, when the text was written. A thing I’d like to criticize is the fact that Abanihe completely lefts out to mention the development assistance of western countries, that is distributed to Africa and that he does not go very much into detail with his suggestions for improvement. It seems like he really knows what Africa’s problems are and he also knows what Africa did and does wrong but he does not figure out what Africa has to do to escape from the development dilemma. And exactly this is the point, where I want to join the complex of problems with my essay. With the help of newer sources I will summarize some ideas – especially the development assistance – and techniques that are and were applied on Africa to help that continent out of its dilemma. Some of the recommendations I figured out might be not the most current. They might refer on facts, that already Abanihe considered. A further Problem in Africa is that every country is in a different phase of development.

Africa’s Development Dynamics uses lessons learned in the continent’s five regions – Central, East, North, Southern and West Africa – to develop policy recommendations and share good practices. Drawing on the most recent statistics, this analysis of development dynamics attempts to help African leaders reach the targets of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 at all levels: continental, regional, national and local.

Sustainable infrastructure development is vital for Africa s prosperity. And now is the time to begin the transformation. This volume is the culmination of an unprecedented effort to document, analyze, and interpret the full extent of the challenge in developing Sub-Saharan Africa s infrastructure sectors. As a result, it represents the most comprehensive reference currently available on infrastructure in the region. The book covers the five main economic infrastructure sectors information and communication technology, irrigation, power, transport, and water and sanitation. 'Africa s Infrastructure: A Time for Transformation' reflects the collaboration of a wide array of African regional institutions and development partners under the auspices of the Infrastructure Consortium for Africa. It presents the findings of the Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic (AICD), a project launched following a commitment in 2005 by the international community (after the G8 summit at Gleneagles, Scotland) to scale up financial support for infrastructure development in Africa. The lack of reliable information in this area made it difficult to evaluate the success of past interventions, prioritize current allocations, and provide benchmarks for measuring future progress, hence the need for the AICD. Africa s infrastructure sectors lag well behind those of the rest of the world, and the gap is widening. Some of the main policy-relevant findings highlighted in the book include the following: infrastructure in the region is exceptionally expensive, with tariffs being many times higher than those found elsewhere. Inadequate and expensive infrastructure is retarding growth by 2 percentage points each year. Solving the problem will cost over US$90 billion per year, which is more than twice what is being spent in Africa today. However, money alone is not the answer. Prudent policies, wise management, and sound maintenance can improve efficiency, thereby stretching the infrastructure dollar. There is the potential to recover an additional US$17 billion a year from within the existing infrastructure resource envelope simply by improving efficiency. For example, improved revenue collection and utility management could generate US$3.3 billion per year. Regional power trade could reduce annual costs by US$2 billion. And deregulating the trucking industry could reduce freight costs by one-half. So, raising more funds without also tackling inefficiencies would be like pouring water into a leaking bucket. Finally, the power sector and fragile states represent particular challenges. Even if every efficiency in every infrastructure sector could be captured, a substantial funding gap of $31 billion a year would remain. Nevertheless, the African people and economies cannot wait any longer. Now is the time to begin the transformation to sustainable development.

Developing countries have for decades been trying to catch up with the industrialized high-income countries, but only a few have succeeded. Historically, structural transformation has been a powerful engine of growth and job creation. Traditional development aid is inadequate to address the bottlenecks for structural transformation, and is hence ineffective. In this book, Justin Yifu Lin and Yan Wang use the theoretical foundations of New Structural Economics to examine South-South development aid and cooperation from the angle of structural transformation. By studying the successful economic transformation of countries such as China and South Korea through 'multiple win' solutions based on comparative advantages and economy of scale, and by presenting new ideas and different perspectives from emerging market economies such as Brazil, India and other BRICS countries, they bring a new narrative to broaden the ongoing discussions of post-2015 development aid and cooperation as well as the definitions of aid and cooperation.

Cognisant of the importance of the political and economic liberalisation process that is ongoing on the contininent, the participants of the Fourth OSSREA Congress selected this theme: Political and Economic Transformation and Socio Economic Development Responses in Africa, for the Fifth Congress. The book provide the papers which were presented in the congress.

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject Politics - Topic: Development Politics, grade: 65, University of Kent, language: English, abstract: ntroduction The underdevelopment of the African continent and the multi-layered causes of this problem have been central to various plans and frameworks aimed at finding a way out of the vicious circle of poverty, poor governance, indebtedness and lack of resources. From efforts in the 1980s to more recent initiatives1, the African countries were mostly perceived as the problem children of international development policies. Besides these specifically Africa orientated development frameworks, a number of global programmes were launched in order to approach the problems faced by Least Developed (LDC) and often Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC). Examples are the HIPC Initiative (1996) supported by the IMF and World Bank, and the formulation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in September 2000. By releasing its report2 in March 2005, the Commission for Africa, set up by Britain’s Prime Minister Tony Blair, added another plan to the already exiting ones. The appointment of the commission was due to the fact that the Millennium Development Goals that have to be reached until 2015 are likely to be missed. Assuming the presidency of both, the EU and the G8 summit in 2005, the British government saw itself in a good position to advance decisively international development policies towards Africa. Cornerstones of the report are 100 per cent debt cancellation for sub-Saharan African countries “which need it”,3 additional $25 billion a year in aid provided by donor countries by 2010 and a further increase of $25 billion a year by 2015.4 These are only some of the objectives outlined by the commission’s report but they constitute the main pillars concerning the immediate economic intents. One has to point out that the main prerequisites for an effective implementation of the plan’s proposals are adjustment processes related to African institutions. Institutional deficiencies on the recipients’ side are a problem that has to be considered as being crucial. The lack of home-grown institutional competence5 and basic institutions of accountability6 respectively are some aspects that point to the shortcomings of recipient’s capacity to manage an increase in money inflow wisely. [...]

The West and the East approach economic development differently. The Europeans and Americans stress free and fair business climate, promoting private activities generally without picking winners, and improving governance. East Asia is interested in achieving concrete results and projects rather than formal correctness, prioritizing a few sectors for industrialization, and eventual graduation from aid. The West mostly shapes shifting strategies of the international donor community while the East has in reality made remarkable progress in industrial catch-up. The two approaches cannot be merged easily but they can be used in proper combination to realize growth and economic transformation. This book proposes more dialogue and complementarity between the two in the development effort of Africa and other regions. In this collected volume, contributed by experts and practitioners from both East and West, the need to introduce Eastern ideas to the global development strategy is emphasized. Analysis of British and other Western donor policies is given while Japanese, Korean, and other Asian approaches are also explained with concrete examples. The concept of governance for growth is presented and the impact of rising China on development studies is contemplated. The practices of industrial policy dialogues and actions assisted by East Asian experts are reported from Tunisia, Zambia, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and others. The book should be applicable to all donors, institutions, NGOs and business enterprises engaged in development cooperation.

Africa is home to many of the world's fastest-growing economies. This powerful book traces new continental institutions for development and their capacity to affect economic growth, regional integration, and international cooperation in Africa. It also assesses Africa's ability to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union's Agenda 2063. As the continent's most ambitious development initiative since independence, the African Union Development Agency (or AUDA, previously known as the New Partnership for Africa's Development or NEPAD) provides an excellent case study for examining how an African-based, continent-wide development institution emerged. Inspired by the ideas of Pan-Africanism and the African Renaissance, NEPAD was created to bring Africa into the globalizing world, to close the gap between developing and developed countries, to enhance economic growth, and to eradicate poverty. Almost two decades after NEPAD's creation and it was given its transformation into AUDA, this brilliant book examines its role in achieving these goals.