Africa
in Transition
A
New Way of Looking at Progress in the Region
Ejeviome
Eloho Otobo
"In this very interesting and illuminating book, Otobo makes a
significant contribution to improving our understanding of Africa's
development performance. He offers a new way of looking at the
development prospects of individual countries by focusing on the three
structural constraints which have impeded their past performance and
still cast a long shadow over their development prospects. This book
should be a required reading by African policy makers and students of
African affairs.”
–Lalla Aicha Ben-Barka
Former Assistant Director-General for Africa at UNESCO
"This is an unreservedly compelling, insightful and innovative
interpretation of progress by African countries. Otobo has drawn on his
very rich and diverse experience in working on African issues in his
country and at the United Nations to paint a vivid picture of the
challenges that African countries face and what must be done to overcome
them. The range and depth of issues covered in this book make it a must
read for leaders at the regional, national and subnational levels.”
–Abdalla Hamdok
Acting Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
Excerpts from the Book
African countries have made considerable progress in the past decade and
half. However, conventional analyses of progress or lack thereof in
Africa have focused on either political or economic trends separately.
Seldom are the twobrought together, and even much rarer is the case when
the political stability, organisational capacity, and scientific and technological dimensions are
combined to offer a comprehensive rather than a fractal view of the
prospects of individual African countries. By integrating the stability,
organisational,and scientific and technological perspectives, it is
possible to gain considerable insight into the factors that will shape
the futures of African countries and, more importantly, present a
composite picture of the progress of each country.Such an approach will
obviate the wild swings between "Hopeless Africa”, "Africa Rising”, and "Africa Reeling” narratives. Thus, the triple
transitions and triple deficits frameworks, examined in this book,
represent a new way of looking at progress in the region, inasmuch as
they help to highlight the complexity and diversity of the performance
of the countries in the region.
Ejeviome Eloho Otobo is currently a Non-Resident Senior Expert in
Peacebuilding and Global Economic Policy at the Global Governance
Institute, Brussels, Belgium. He had previously held the position of
Director and Deputy Head of the UN Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO)
at the United Nations Headquarters, New York, where he also acted as
Assistant Secretary-General from February-August 2009.
ISBNs: 978-0-9984796-2-0 (Paperback) -- 978-0-9984796-3-7 (e-Book edition)
Trim size: 6 X 9
Page Count: 374pp
