Synopses & Reviews
Many African countries are now described as "Fourth World nations," ones which essentially have no future. How could this have happened? Through the scope of the 1960s, the first decade of African independence, Peter Schwab presents a compelling and provocative answer to this question.
Designing West Africa tells the story of a pivotal decade in African history, when the fate of the continent was decided. Focusing on the six most visible leaders of the period--Sékou Touré, Kwame Nkrumah, and others--Schwab shows how Africa served as a grounds to play out larger international conflicts, namely the Cold War. He does not fall back solely on blaming non-African involvement for the failure to build a viable leadership for the continent; rather, he critiques the African leaders themselves for their individual failings.
Review
Praise for
Africa: A Continent Self-Destructs:"For anyone interested in the reality of Africa, this is the book to read."--Amos Sawyer, President of Liberia, 1990-1994
"Offers brief, invaluable descriptions of several countries circumstances...readers will gain much from this astute analysis."--Publishers Weekly
Synopsis
A noted authority makes a provocative argument that the fate of the African continent was decided in its first decade of independence
About the Author
Peter Schwab is Professor of Political Science at Purchase College, SUNY, and the author most recently of Africa: A Continent Self-Destructs (Palgrave Macmillan, 2001).
Table of Contents
Introduction: U.S., European, and West African Ideological Designs * The Conservatives * William V.S. Tubman: Liberia's Conservative Designer * Félix Houphouët-Boigny: A French Client in the Ivory Coast * Senegal and Léopold Sédar Senghor: Francophile Nation and Poet * Nigeria: The State that Lost its Future * The Radicals * Kwame Nkrumah: Ghana's Nationalist Icon * Sékou Touré: Guinea's Fidel Castro, and His Connection to the Political Thought of Mali's Modibo Keita * Conclusion: The Appalling Aftermath