West Africa

Download or read book West Africa written by Eugene L. Mendonsa and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 668 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This introductory book covers West Africa's history, social organization, and contemporary setting. It analyzes the many present-day problems facing West Africans such as the lack of development, dependency on economic relations with wealthy countries, poor governance, interference by the military in civilian affairs, corruption, and the lack of functioning democratic governments. This book also shows how West African indigenous civilization developed its humanitarian, democratic, and communalistic nature. Traditional political processes and ancestral customs are put forth as ways of solving West Africa's modern problems. Divided into three main parts: "The Setting and Social Organization," "The History of West Africa," and "The Modern Era," the main objective of this textbook is to teach students about the depth of African civilization and how its principles can be used to address modern-day problems in West Africa. Mendonsa expresses the opinion that in order to solve current problems plaguing the region, a knowledge of history, African culture, and ancient African beliefs is crucial. The Teacher's Manual includes chapter outlines and summaries, key points, sample questions, and suggested films and websites.

Download or read book Regional Integration in West Africa written by Eswar Prasad and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2021-07-13 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: " Assessing the potential benefits and risks of a currency union Leaders of the fifteen-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) have set a goal of achieving a monetary and currency union by late 2020. Although some progress has been made toward achieving this ambitious goal, major challenges remain if the region is to realize the necessary macroeconomic convergence and establish the required institutional framework in a relatively short period of time. The proposed union offers many potential benefits, especially for countries with historically high inflation rates and weak central banks. But, as implementation of the euro over the past two decades has shown, folding multiple currencies, representing disparate economies, into a common union comes with significant costs, along with operational challenges and transitional risks. All these potential negatives must be considered carefully by ECOWAS leaders seeking tomeet a self-imposed deadline. This book, by two leading experts on economics and Africa, makes a significant analytical contribution to the debates now under way about how ECOWAS could achieve and manage its currency union, andthe ramifications for the African continent. "

Download or read book The Challenge of Stability and Security in West Africa written by Alexandre Marc and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2015-06-19 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since independence, the West African sub-region has been an arena for a number of large-scale conflicts and civil wars, as well as simmering and low-intensity uprisings. Contrary to perceptions, West Africa in its post-independence history has experienced fewer conflict events and fatalities from conflict than the other sub-regions on the continent. The turn of the millennium has witnessed the recession of large-scale and conventional conflict, and it has ushered in new and emerging threats. The specters of religious extremism, maritime piracy, and narcotics trafficking threaten to undermine some of the progress achieved in recent years. The Challenge of Stability and Security in West Africa critically examines the key drivers of conflict and violence, and the way in which they impact the countries of the sub-region. In addition to emerging threats, these drivers include the challenges of youth inclusion, migration, sub-regional imbalances, and extractives, as well as challenges related to the fragility of political institutions and managing the competition for power, reform of the security sector, and weakness of institutions related to land management. The book explores how the sub-region, under the auspices of the regional organization ECOWAS, has become a pioneer on the continent in terms of addressing regional challenges. The Challenge of Stability and Security in West Africa also identifies key lessons in the dynamics of resilience in the face of political violence and civil war drawn from CÃ ́te d'Ivoire, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, that can be useful for countries around the world in similar situations. It incorporates knowledge and findings from leading experts and provides insights from academics and development practitioners. Finally, the book identifies possible policy and programmatic responses and directions for policy dialogue at the national and international levels.

Download or read book “A” Survey on Migration Policies in West Africa written by Alexandre Devillard and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Doing Development in West Africa written by Charles Piot and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2016-08-04 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years the popularity of service learning and study abroad programs that bring students to the global South has soared, thanks to this generation of college students' desire to make a positive difference in the world. This collection contains essays by undergraduates who recount their experiences in Togo working on projects that established health insurance at a local clinic, built a cyber café, created a microlending program for teens, and started a local writers' group. The essays show students putting their optimism to work while learning that paying attention to local knowledge can make all the difference in a project's success. Students also conducted research on global health topics by examining the complex relationships between traditional healing practices and biomedicine. Charles Piot's introduction contextualizes student-initiated development within the history of development work in West Africa since 1960, while his epilogue provides an update on the projects, compiles an inventory of best practices, and describes the type of projects that are likely to succeed. Doing Development in West Africa provides a relatable and intimate look into the range of challenges, successes, and failures that come with studying abroad in the global South. Contributors. Cheyenne Allenby, Kelly Andrejko, Connor Cotton, Allie Middleton, Caitlin Moyles, Charles Piot, Benjamin Ramsey, Maria Cecilia Romano, Stephanie Rotolo, Emma Smith, Sarah Zimmerman

Download or read book An Economic History of West Africa written by A. G. Hopkins and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-09-19 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the standard account of the economic history of the vast area conventionally known as West Africa. Ranging from prehistoric time to independence it covers the former French as well as British colonies.

Download or read book A Fistful of Shells written by Toby Green and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2019-03-21 with total page 651 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By the time the “Scramble for Africa” among European colonial powers began in the late nineteenth century, Africa had already been globally connected for centuries. Its gold had fueled the economies of Europe and the Islamic world for nearly a millennium, and the sophisticated kingdoms spanning its west coast had traded with Europeans since the fifteenth century. Until at least 1650, this was a trade of equals, using a variety of currencies—most importantly, cowrie shells imported from the Maldives and nzimbu shells imported from Brazil. But, as the slave trade grew, African kingdoms began to lose prominence in the growing global economy. We have been living with the effects of this shift ever since. With A Fistful of Shells, Toby Green transforms our view of West and West-Central Africa by reconstructing the world of these kingdoms, which revolved around trade, diplomacy, complex religious beliefs, and the production of art. Green shows how the slave trade led to economic disparities that caused African kingdoms to lose relative political and economic power. The concentration of money in the hands of Atlantic elites in and outside these kingdoms brought about a revolutionary nineteenth century in Africa, parallel to the upheavals then taking place in Europe and America. Yet political fragmentation following the fall of African aristocracies produced radically different results as European colonization took hold. Drawing not just on written histories, but on archival research in nine countries, art, oral history, archaeology, and letters, Green lays bare the transformations that have shaped world politics and the global economy since the fifteenth century and paints a new and masterful portrait of West Africa, past and present.