Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Saga of African Underdevelopment examines in careful detail the economic conditions in Africa during the pre-colonial and colonial periods. The authors argue eloquently that most of the development paradigms that were used to transform African economies, under free trade imperialism or under colonial and postcolonial periods were incompatible with the African system of thought and traditional production systems or mode of production. Following this, they propose a bold development strategy to reverse the dismal economic performance of African countries in the post independence period.

Can sustainable economic development be achieved without strong environmental protections? Bringing together theoretical issues in development economics and a wide range of empirical evidence, this book examines this question and explores ways that environmental sustainability has been—and might be—incorporated into existing theories of economic development. Protection of the environment is an essential part of development, and the best chance for achieving long-term sustainable development is to systematically incorporate environmental issues into key aspects of economic development paradigms. To show this, Desta makes use of theoretical approaches, draws policy implications, and illustrates each point with in-depth case studies from developing countries.