Power in Africa: An Essay in Political Interpretation

'This book will rightfully head many a reading list...'C.Allen, British Book News Power in Africa casts a fresh look at contemporary Black African politics. It reviews the merits and failings of existing interpretations of Africa's post-colonial society and offers a new approach to its understanding. It has two main aims. First, to present a comparative conceptual framework which places Africa's politics within its appropriate historical context. Second, to offer an explanation of what is actually happening in Africa - beyond the clichs of a dark continent perennially in crisis. Preface - PART 1: THE MEANINGS OF POLITICAL INTERPRETATION - Introduction - Paradigms Lost: Development Theory - Class Theory - Underdevelopment Theory - Revolutionary Theory - Democratic Theory - PART 2: CONCEPTS FOR THE ANALYSIS OF POWER IN AFRICA - Introduction - The Political Community - Political Accountability - The State - Civil Society - Production - PART 3: THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE AFRICAN POST-COLONIAL POLITICAL ORDER - Introduction - The Crisis of Nationality and Sovereignty - The Crisis of Legitimacy and Representation - The Crisis of Accumulation and Inequality - The Crisis of Good Government and Political Morality - The Crisis of Violence and Survival - PART 4: POLITICAL CHANGE AND CONTINUITY IN CONTEMPORARY AFRICA - Introduction - The Dynamics of Political Africanisation - The Dialectics of the Hegemonic Drive - The Politics of Dependence - The Reproduction of Power - Notes - Index