The Failure of Leadership in Africa's Development

Ike Okonta

The Failure of Leadership in Africa’s Development examines the dominant scholarly theories about the cause of Africa’s underdevelopment and argues that none of the traditionally invoked causes—an alleged black racial inferiority, the colonial and neo-colonial expropriation of Africa, purported natural defects in Africa’s geography—is plausible as the explanation of the main cause of the continent’s underdevelopment. Rather, the book argues that the chief cause of the continent’s lag is the failure of leadership of Africa’s ruling classes. This failure of leadership, the book shows, is most evident in the historically traceable indifference of a long succession of Africa’s ruling classes to the scientific and technological advances that were emerging from Europe and Asia during the most critical periods of Africa’s history. It was this indifference, the book argues, that set the stage for the subsequent conquest, expropriation, and technological stagnation of Africa. The book recommends a blueprint for the continent’s future development.

Lexington Books

Pages: 232 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9¼

978-1-7936-1325-7 • Hardback • February 2020 • $95.00 • (£65.00)

978-1-7936-1326-4 • eBook • February 2020 • $90.00 • (£60.00)

Subjects: Political Science / World / African, History / Africa / General, Social Science / World / Africa

The Failure of Leadership in Africa's Development

Hardback

eBook

Summary

The Failure of Leadership in Africa’s Development examines the dominant scholarly theories about the cause of Africa’s underdevelopment and argues that none of the traditionally invoked causes—an alleged black racial inferiority, the colonial and neo-colonial expropriation of Africa, purported natural defects in Africa’s geography—is plausible as the explanation of the main cause of the continent’s underdevelopment. Rather, the book argues that the chief cause of the continent’s lag is the failure of leadership of Africa’s ruling classes. This failure of leadership, the book shows, is most evident in the historically traceable indifference of a long succession of Africa’s ruling classes to the scientific and technological advances that were emerging from Europe and Asia during the most critical periods of Africa’s history. It was this indifference, the book argues, that set the stage for the subsequent conquest, expropriation, and technological stagnation of Africa. The book recommends a blueprint for the continent’s future development.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 232 • Trim: 6⅜ x 9¼

978-1-7936-1325-7 • Hardback • February 2020 • $95.00 • (£65.00)

978-1-7936-1326-4 • eBook • February 2020 • $90.00 • (£60.00)

Subjects: Political Science / World / African, History / Africa / General, Social Science / World / Africa

Author

Ike Okonta is associate professor of philosophy at Winston-Salem State University.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Africa’s Underdevelopment: Nagging Questions

Chapter 2: A Crippled and Comatose Giant

Chapter 3: The Cause of Africa’s Underdevelopment: Conflicting Theories

Chapter 4: Africa’s Historical Indifference to Technological Progress

Chapter 5: Monarchs of “The Encounter” and their Feeble Responses to Europe’s Superior Technology

Chapter 6: A Blueprint for Africa’s Development

Chapter 7: The Poverty of Contemporary African Political Thought

The Failure of Leadership in Africa's Development

Ike Okonta

The Failure of Leadership in Africa's Development

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