Ebook: Unity or Poverty? The Economics of Pan-Africanism

Pan-Africanism has existed as a sentimental dream: it is now crystallizing into an economic necessity. Such is the theme of this new study written by two authors whose knowledge of Africa is practical as well as academic.

In very few years the revolution in Africa has brought political freedom to almost forty African states. But the strategy of development for a continent which lags so far behind in technology now demands the greatest possible degree of economic integration. The fragmented economies of a patchwork of states set clear limits to the prospect of economic growth, and the wealth of the whole continent is being distorted and divided by the dependence of its various political parts on foreign assistance.

These effects are analysed here by Reginald Green and Ann Seidman in order to underline the present need for African self-reliance. They suggest, too, practical steps by which the divided states can come together for the purpose of continental planning, so as to achieve the ‘economies of scale’ which are vital to Africa’s future.