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African History Commons

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Articles 1 - 7 of 7

Full-Text Articles in African History

Oil Wealth, Resource Curse And Development: Any Lessons For Ghana?, Felix Kumah-Abiwu, Edward Brenya, James Agbodzakey Jan 2015

Oil Wealth, Resource Curse And Development: Any Lessons For Ghana?, Felix Kumah-Abiwu, Edward Brenya, James Agbodzakey

Felix Kumah-Abiwu

Ghana’s new status as an oil-producing country has invigorated the scholarly debate on the resource curse theory, which assumes that countries with vast natural resource wealth like oil, diamond and gold are likely to experience slow economic growth and development as compared to countries with scarce natural resources. Although the development literature is well endowed with cases of countries with huge natural resources that have experienced slow economic growth, the literature is also clear on few other countries with enormous natural resources that continue to experience high economic growth due to strong political institutions and democratic practices. Norway and Botswana …


Smart Power For Hard Problems: The Role Of Special Operation Forces Strengthening The Rule Of Law And Human Rights In Africa, Kevin H. Govern Jan 2013

Smart Power For Hard Problems: The Role Of Special Operation Forces Strengthening The Rule Of Law And Human Rights In Africa, Kevin H. Govern

Kevin H. Govern

This article will assess the roles and responsibilities of Special Operations Forces (SOF) within the newly created U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) as an active proponent of a so-called “smart power” national security strategy. In particular, it will outline the economic, political, and military challenges faced in Africa; specifically, how and why SOCAFRICA is the U.S. force of choice for promoting human rights and rule of law in Africa. With the goals of the U.S. military in mind, questions will necessarily arise as to “what success looks like” for both the U.S. and African nations, and the roles of each in …


Confounding Identity: Exploring The Life And Discourse Of Lucy E. Parsons, Michelle Diane Wright Jun 2011

Confounding Identity: Exploring The Life And Discourse Of Lucy E. Parsons, Michelle Diane Wright

Michelle Diane Wright

Despite the vast research conducted on radical activist history of late nineteenth century Chicago, there is very little that examines political and social ideologies that diverged from the westernized male archetype of the era. Furthermore, the contrived disciplinary divide that separates scholarly study into artificial and static compartments such as labor history, anarchist history, women’s studies or others, oversimplifies the contributions of individuals that straddle all categories of endeavor. Lucy Parsons, a woman of color, was born in Waco, Texas in 1853 but moved to Chicago in 1873 and became a pivotal figure in the labor and anarchist movements well …


Diabolical Frivolity Of Neoliberal Fundamentalism, Sefik Tatlic Jan 2009

Diabolical Frivolity Of Neoliberal Fundamentalism, Sefik Tatlic

Sefik Tatlic

Today, we cannot talk just about plain control, but we must talk about the nature of the interaction of the one who is being controlled and the one who controls, an interaction where the one that is “controlled” is asking for more control over himself/herself while expecting to be compensated by a surplus of freedom to satisfy trivial needs and wishes. Such a liberty for the fulfillment of trivial needs is being declared as freedom. But this implies as well the freedom to choose not to be engaged in any kind of socially sensible or politically articulated struggle.


Broken Utterances, Michelle Diane Wright Jan 2007

Broken Utterances, Michelle Diane Wright

Michelle Diane Wright

Preface to the book "Broken Utterances"


Timbuktu: A Lesson In Underdevelopment, Riccardo Pelizzo Jan 2001

Timbuktu: A Lesson In Underdevelopment, Riccardo Pelizzo

riccardo pelizzo

Th e purpose of the present paper is to investigate Timbuktu’s economic decline in the three centuries elapsed between 1526, when Leo Africanus reached the Mysterious City, and 1830, when the fi rst European explorers arrived in Timbuktu. It is argued that Timbuktu’s decline was neither an accident nor the result of inevitable natural conditions. Timbuktu’s decay was the product of historical and social forces. Specifi cally, it is argued that Timbuktu lost power and prestige because its market decayed. However, it is also suggested that no single factor can account individually for this event. Th e crisis of Timbuktu’s …


From Military Politization To Militarization Of Power In Guinea-Conakry, Mohamed S. Camara Jan 2000

From Military Politization To Militarization Of Power In Guinea-Conakry, Mohamed S. Camara

Mohamed S. Camara

This historical analysis of state-military society relationship in Guinea focuses on Sékou Touré's political survival due in part to his political indoctrination of an army constantly involved in Pan-African battles and overshadowed by the National Militia. It also addresses this army's transition from a single-party regime to multiparty politics via a bloodless coup. Particularly underlined in the discussion, Touré's intelligent exploitation of Cold War localized manueuvers lays the ground for a conceptual framework envisioning the Guinean military as a revolutionary army. This theoretical argument is made in light of the sociological debate on the military and politics as sustained by …