Africans are angry - 30 years of independence have brought nothing but economic misery, famine, senseless civil wars, wanton destruction, flagrant violations of human rights and brutal repression. At independence from colonial rule, Africans had hoped for liberty, prosperity and a new beginning. They have been cruelly disappointed. This study is an attack on the dictators who have ruined an entire continent. Almost all the nationalists who took power after independence have proven worse than the colonialists they replaced. Declaring their countries one-party states and themselves "presidents for life", they have banned the opposition and gagged the press. Any word of dissent is rewarded with jail or death, and under the guise of "socialism", these leaders and a phalanx of kleptocrats have settled down to loot Africa's wealth. Each violent coup has simply replaced the nationalists with military juntas who have then applied a soldierly rigour to the same plundering operation - a 2nd betrayal. The author writes about the horrors of black neocolonialism, arguing that it is just not good enough for commentators always to blame external factors for Africa's misery: African leaders have betrayed both the just aspirations of their countrymen and Africa's indigenous political systems, which in no way endorse tyranny. Dr Ayittey sees a 2nd liberation struggle building up throughout the continent - one that will sweep away the kleptocracy and rediscover the African traditions that have endured throughout the horrors of both white colonialism and black neocolonialism. By the author of "Indigenous African Institutions" and has written articles for "The Wall Street Journal", "The New York Times", "The Washington Post", "The Washington Times", "The Globe and Mail", "International Herald Tribune" and the London "Times". George B.N. Ayittey has also written for African newspapers, including "Ghana Drum", "The Christian Messenger", "The Sowetan" and "The Continent".

Africa betrayed

George B.N. Ayittey

St.Martin's Press

Africa in Chaos

Explores the effect of colonial European government systems on Africa's economic and political situation at the end of the twentieth century

Business & Money

Economics

PALGRAVE~MACMILLAN

Africa Betrayed

History

Africa

Africa Unchained: The Blueprint for Africa's Future

Why haven't the poorest Africans been able to prosper in the twenty-first century? Celebrated economist George Ayittey thinks the answer is obvious: economic freedom was denied to them, first by foreign colonial powers and now by indigenous leaders with similarly oppressive practices. As war and conflict replaced peace, Africa's infrastructure crumbled. Instead of bemoaning the myriad difficulties facing the continent today, Ayittey boldly proposes a program of development--a way forward--for Africa. Africa Unchained investigates how Africa can modernize, build, and improve its indigenous institutions, and argues forcefully that Africa should build and expand upon traditions of free markets and free trade rather than continuing to use exploitative economic structures. The economic model here is uniquely African and takes little heed from the developed world; this is sure to be a highly controversial plan for moving Africa forward.

Ayittey (economics, American U., Washington, DC) presents a detailed picture of pre-colonial and post-colonial Africa its culture, tradition, and indigenous institutions, including participatory democracy and a program for rebuilding the continent based upon Africans' indigenous past. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

Indigenous African Institutions

Politics & Social Sciences

Ayittey, George B.N.

Social Sciences

Transnational Publishers Inc.,U.S.

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Books by George B.N. Ayittey