Renewing Social and Economic Progress in Africa

Ghai, Dharam (ed.). Renewing Social and Economic Progress in Africa. London: Macmillam Press, 2000. 305pp.

Africa is often said to be in a crisis. In the eyes of the western world Africa has indeed become a synonym of failure. Various researchers, especially those in the Euro-American world have been more inclined to postulate that events in Africa resemble darkness if not a return to darkness. The naive enthusiasm that has fertilized and given way to this gloomy prognosis of developments on the continent has been reinforced by the portrayals of the continent in both the electronic and print media. In the latter, Africa is associated with economic crisis, political disorder, civil wars, military regimes and endemic corruption. For nearly three decades, the media, especially the western owned, has evoked images of widespread starvation, mass impoverishment, environmental disasters, bloody conflicts, ever growing numbers of refugees and internally displaced persons and endless suffering of people, especially women and children.

The foregoing portrayal of Africa captures many elements of the harsh reality in the region in recent years. However, as the authors of the essays in the book under review suggest, any diagnosis of the realities on the continent, as brief and summarily as this, risks underestimating the complexity of the crisis and the responses which African societies are making to it. In a lucid, clear and forceful way, Renewing Social and Economic Progress in Africa discounts the blind rush at which various analysts of the so called African crisis have assessed the various social, economic and political developments on the continent, especially after the attainment of independence in the early 1960's. To the authors, themselves renowned scholars and researchers on Africa, the rush in the analysis and the reinforcing negative images of the mass media has tended, in a profound way, to exaggerate, distort and simplify the reality on the ground.

Dedicated to one of Kenya's finest and eminent patriots and scholars, Phillip Ndegwa, the twelve-chapter text brings together, 'under one roof some of the very polished and world-renowned analysts of the African condition. The book's astuteness, simplicity and aptness in grappling with the various developments on the continent indeed reflect the broadness of interest, the sharp intellect, the courage and the fierce adherence to principle that characterized Ndegwa's life career and contributions to the scholarly world before his death in January 1996.

On the African crisis in general, the authors are unanimous on the fact that the continent is undergoing serious difficulties of economic and political nature. That it is true the difficulties, taking place within a very short time since the continent attained her independence, are so acute as to put its place in the world in jeopardy. However, in spite of this sorry state of affairs on the continent, the authors argue that there is need for a prudent, balanced and realistic interpretation of Africa's current problems with a view to offering prospects for the coming years and decades. Such a view must be informed by a sober assessment of past experiences, of the changing global environment and regional context and of the changes currently underway.

In an attempt to set pace in addressing the foregoing issues, the two part book exhaustively discusses the state of the African predicament under the rubric of two all encompassing themes. These are, Human Development, Social Progress and Environmental Sustainability, and the Agenda for Political and Economic Reform. Underscoring the centrality of understanding Africa's history in order to trace where the 'rain begun to beat us', the authors argue that on the continent, the interaction between the practice of power, war, economic accumulation and illicit activities of various types forms a particular political trajectory which can be fully appreciated only if they are addressed in historical depth. One of the characteristics of this trajectory is the exploitation of dominant social groups or by dominant actors of the moment of the whole series of social, economic and political gains made on the continent. But, although this exploitation has led to the current crisis, the exaggerated manner in which the crisis has been depicted in much of the writings and reportage on the region robs it a balanced analysis. It also fails to put into account, as the authors suggest, the fact that even if the short-term outlook may look dire, the long-term prospects are less somber.

It is instructive to note, as the contributions in the book reveal, that not all parts of Africa have shared the dismal fate depicted in much of the western writings and media. More often than not, notable progress registered in some domains, as the ones highlighted in the chapters of the book, are rarely dwelt upon. Above all, the dominant view fails to take into account the changes underway that may in the coming years render obsolete the analysis and predictions based on past trends.