The State and Rural Class Formation in Ghana


Book Description

First published in 1986. Africanists are nowadays devoting increasing attention to the role of the state - both colonial and post-colonial - in the process of class formation in African societies. The present study of the role of the state in the process of rural class formation in Ghana can be viewed as both an expression of the current interest in, and an addition to the growing body of literature on, this subject.




General Labour History of Africa


Book Description

The first comprehensive and authoritative history of work and labour in Africa; a key text for all working on African Studies and Labour History worldwide.




Old Modes of Production and Capitalist Encroachment


Book Description

First published in 1985. This book is the result of a long series of meetings of the Amsterdam Work-group for Marxist Anthropology, extending over a number of years starting from 1977. It has some changes and expansions from the original Dutch version.




Food and Power


Book Description

The relationship between development and democratization remains one of the most compelling topics of research in political science, yet many aspects of authoritarian regime behavior remain unexplained. This book explores how different types of governments take action to shape the course of economic development, focusing on agriculture, a sector that is of crucial importance in the developing world. It explains variation in agricultural and food policy across regime type, who the winners and losers of these policies are, and whether they influence the stability of authoritarian governments. The book pushes us to think differently about the process linking economic development to political change, and to consider growth as an inherently politicized process rather than an exogenous driver of moves towards democracy.




Fractures and Reconnections


Book Description

This collective volume pays tribute to the work of Africanist Piet Konings and his 30-year career (1978-2008) at the African Studies Centre Leiden. It focuses on key themes addressed in Konings' work such as labour relations, African development, social and political history, ethno-regionalism, and civil society and civic movements. Contributions: Introduction: Piet Konings' contributions to African Studies (J. Abbink); The political economy of authochthony: labour migration and citizenship in Southwest Cameroon (Peter Geschiere); 'Ganyu' in Malawi: transformation of local labour relations under famine and HIV/AIDS duress (Deborah Fahy Bryceson); Labour migration from the Gold Coast to the Dutch East Indies: recruting African troops for the Dutch colonial army in the age of indentured labour (Ineke van Kessel); Economic crisis and imaginative response: the upsurge in traditional medical practices among youths in Cameroon (Robert Mbe Akoko); Taking Africaness and African law seriously in South African law schools: some conceptual challenges (Francis B. Nyamnjoh); Football in Cameroon: its origins, politics and sorcery (Paul Nchoji Nkwi); 'Sagacity spirit' and 'ghetto ethic': 'feymania' and new African entrepreneurship (Basile Ndjio); Examining the architecture of electoral authoritarianism in Cameroon (Nantang Jua); Multipartyism and 'big man' democracy in Cameroon, 1990-2011 (Ibrahim Mouiche). [ASC Leiden abstract]




Crisis and Neoliberal Reforms in Africa


Book Description

This book discusses the social and political consequences of the economic and financial crisis that befell African economies since the 1980s, using as case study the plantation economy of the Anglophone region of Cameroon. The focus is thus on recent efforts to liberalize and privatize an agro-industrial enterprise where overseas capital and its domestic partners have converged, the consequent modes of production and labour, and the alternatives proposed and resistance generated. The study details how the unprecedented crisis caused great commotion in the region, and presented a serious challenge to existing theories on plantation production and capital accumulation. The crisis resulted in the introduction of a number of neoliberal economic reforms, including the withdrawal of state intervention and the restructuring, liquidation and privatisation of the major agro-industrial enterprises. These reforms in turn had severe consequences for several civil-society groups and their organisations that had a direct stake in the regional plantation economy, notably the regional elite, chiefs, plantation workers and contract farmers. On the basis of extensive research in the Anglophone Cameroon region, Konings shows that these civil-society groups have never resigned themselves to their fate but have been actively involved in a variety of formal and informal modes of resistance.




Ibss: Anthropology: 1986


Book Description

IBSS is the essential tool for librarians, university departments, research institutions and any public or private institution whose work requires access to up-to-date and comprehensive knowledge of the social sciences.




Non-Governmental Organizations and the State in Africa


Book Description

This presents twenty specially commissioned case studies of farmer participatory approaches to agricultural innovation initiated by NGOs in Africa. Beginning with a broad review of institutional activity at the grassroots, the authors set the case material within the context of NGO relations with the State and their contribution to democratisation and the consolidation of rural civil society. Specific questions are raised: how good/bad are NGOs at promoting technological innovation and addressing constraints to change in present agriculture?; how effective are NGOs at strengthening grassroots organizations? and how do/will donor pressures influence NGOs and their links to the State? This title is part of a series on Non-Governmental Organizations co-ordinated by the Overseas Development Institute. To complete this comprehensive review and critique there are two other regional case study volumes on Asia and Latin America and an overview volume, Reluctant Partners?




Oil Crises of the 1970s and the Transformation of International Order


Book Description

The 1970s are widely seen as a turning point for the world economy and a transformative decade for the international order. This volume explores the role played by the oil crises in this transformation, focusing particularly on their impact in previously little-studied regions such as Asia and Africa. Examining the intersection between the oil crises and the Third World project, their impact on Asian economic development and the contrasting responses of two African countries, this collection covers new ground on the global and regional effects of the crises, and ties them into the key transformations of the international economy and the Cold War order. Arguing that they were instrumental in reshaping the Asian economies, helping to instigate the boom known as the 'East Asian Miracle', it also demonstrates how the individual responses of countries reflected their own specific circumstances. With chapters from leading scholars such as David Painter and Dane Kennedy, this book shows how the origins, course and consequences of the oil crises of the 1970s are crucial to understanding the transformation of the international order in the late twentieth century.




Competing Norms


Book Description

Meist wird der Staat in Afrika, wie auch anderswo, als Träger von Ordnung, Fortschritt und Disziplin gesehen, da er über die Autorität verfügt, Gesetze zu erlassen und deren Einhaltung zum Wohl der Gesellschaft zu sanktionieren. Dieser Band untersucht die Bedeutung der staatlichen Gesetzgebung für die Bevölkerungen im subsaharischen Afrika und setzt diese in Beziehung zu bereits existierenden lokalen Normen, mit denen die neuen Gesetze konkurrieren müssen.