Capitalism And Freedom In African Political Philosophy

This book investigates ‘capitalism and freedom’—the guiding forces of many political systems—in African philosophy. It builds on classical and neoliberal capitalism rooted in private property and freedom, and argues for the presence of these elements in the traditional and modern African political systems. The author argues that while these elements are partly imported from Western capitalists, they are equally traceable in African traditional political systems. Kayange argues that African politics is marred by a conflict between embracing capitalism and freedom (individualism), on the one hand, and socialism founded on African communitarianism and communist ideas, on the other. This conflict has affected policy development and implementation, and has significantly contributed towards the socio-economic and ethical crises that are recurrent in most of the African countries.

This book creates (on the one hand) and explores (on the other hand) philosophies of African development suitable for Black sub-Saharan African countries. As an academic discipline focused on thought informed by indigenous moral values among Black peoples in the sub-Saharan region, African political philosophy involves philosophizing normatively about government by traditional Black African people with the aim of advancing a better African society. African political philosophy does not mean that its themes, views, concepts, and approaches are exclusively African. It also does not mean that only thinkers in Africa could hold these concepts, nor does it mean that all African thinkers hold the same views. “African” is used geographically in African political philosophy to demarcate certain perspectives that are unique to sub-Saharan African thought and practice that tend not to be the case elsewhere. An African political and economic philosophy should address the origin and method of political power, the guarantee of human and civil liberties, and how economic goods are generated and distributed in African societies. Africapitalism, as a new economic philosophy, obviates the inadequacies in Afrisocialism and offers an option for an African economic philosophy. Edited by Ephraim-Stephen Essien and Frank Aragbonfoh Abumere, the contributors to African Political and Economic Philosophy with Africapitalism: Concepts for African Leadership ask the question: can a neo-Afrisocialism offer anything good for the Africa?

The book examines the meaning of justice in African political philosophy, building on the use-theoretical approach. Currently, most of the philosophical works in this context advocate for a communal interpretation of the meaning of justice, such as the 'relational theory of justice' and 'Ubuntu justice as fairness.' The author argues that this foundation of justice in the community undermines the self, which is a major problem with these theories. As an attempt to go beyond communitarianism in African thought, the book recognizes other philosophical frameworks for elaborating the meaning of justice in ordinary people's experience, such as vitalism, theism, ubuntuism, and semantic framework. The author opts for a reconstructed ubuntu-based theory of the meaning of justice that reflects the traditional African experience and recuperates 'valuing self-existence' and 'valuing other-existence' as its foundations. The book further identifies the centrality of rights in defining justice in traditional African communities.

There can be no better time to revive the major strands of social and political thought about Africa in the nineteeth and twentieth centuries than now; given the consensus of opinion that over the last two decades African societies, and policies relating to the continent have largely failed. This book, illustrates that failures in Africa are not for a lack of ideas and arguments, or intellectual life. At the very least, it is a document of the rich history of ideas about the continent, by some of its most influential thinkers. The collection includes pieces on major African leaders/thinkers - Sekou Toure, Blydeen Awolowo and Nkrumah; and contributions by leaders themselves e.g. Nyerere on the process of liberation, and relative concepts of freedom. The other essays are by major intellectuals on currents and periods in social thought and intellectual history, such as Mazui on questions of (pan) - African indentities, on Africanness and colonialism, and African socialism.

One of the most significant works of economic theory ever written, from the “outstanding [and] unfailingly enlightening” Milton Friedman (Newsweek). One of Time magazine’s All-Time 100 Best Nonfiction Books One of Times Literary Supplement’s 100 Most Influential Books Since the War One of National Review’s 100 Best Nonfiction Books of the Century One of Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s 50 Best Books of the 20th Century How can we benefit from the promise of government while avoiding the threat it poses to individual freedom? In this classic book, Milton Friedman provides the definitive statement of an immensely influential economic philosophy—one in which competitive capitalism serves as both a device for achieving economic freedom and a necessary condition for political freedom. First published in 1962, Friedman’s Capitalism and Freedom is one of the most significant works of economic theory ever written. Enduring in its eminence and esteem, it has sold nearly a million copies in English, has been translated into eighteen languages, and continues to inform economic thinking and policymaking around the world. This new edition includes prefaces written by Friedman for both the 1982 and 2002 reissues of the book, as well as a new foreword by Binyamin Appelbaum, lead economics writer for the New York Times editorial board.

The politics of development in Africa have always been central concerns of the continent's literature. Yet ideas about the best way to achieve this development, and even what development itself should look like, have been hotly contested. African Literature as Political Philosophy looks in particular at Achebe's Anthills of the Savannah and Petals of Blood by Ngugi wa Thiong'o, but situates these within the broader context of developments in African literature over the past half-century, discussing writers from Ayi Kwei Armah to Wole Soyinka. M.S.C. Okolo provides a thorough analysis of the authors' differing approaches and how these emerge from the literature. She shows the roots of Achebe's reformism and Ngugi's insistence on revolution and how these positions take shape in their work. Okolo argues that these authors have been profoundly affected by the political situation of Africa, but have also helped to create a new African political philosophy.

African liberation is often seen in terms of heroism, but seldom in terms of thought. Even Sartre, in his preface to Frantz Fanon's seminal The Wretched of the Earth, wrote of the 'native' with his coiled muscles about to explode into rebellion. The African and the black person are denied the condition of philosophy, apparently driven only by frustration and anger. Stephen Chan's new book charts the long history of African political thought, from the years of North American slavery, through the development of modern African nationalism and the difficulties of governing new states, to Africa's political philosophy today, taking on the world as an equal. He dwells at length on major figures from Marcus Garvey and Kwame Nkrumah's postcolonial generation to Biko, Mandela and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. He shows their leadership to be inseparable from their ideas, and from those of literary giants including Fanon, W.E.B. Du Bois and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o. This is no hagiography: Chan critically examines his thinkers, who also include Mugabe and Mobutu, and expresses concern for the future of Pan-Africanism. But his fascinating account reveals a thoughtful continent that has made complex, significant contributions to the world's intellectual commons-yet continues to seek freedom.

What is the opposite of freedom? In Freedom as Marronage, Neil Roberts answers this question with definitive force: slavery, and from there he unveils powerful new insights on the human condition as it has been understood between these poles. Crucial to his investigation is the concept of marronage—a form of slave escape that was an important aspect of Caribbean and Latin American slave systems. Examining this overlooked phenomenon—one of action from slavery and toward freedom—he deepens our understanding of freedom itself and the origin of our political ideals. Roberts examines the liminal and transitional space of slave escape in order to develop a theory of freedom as marronage, which contends that freedom is fundamentally located within this space—that it is a form of perpetual flight. He engages a stunning variety of writers, including Hannah Arendt, W. E. B. Du Bois, Angela Davis, Frederick Douglass, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and the Rastafari, among others, to develop a compelling lens through which to interpret the quandaries of slavery, freedom, and politics that still confront us today. The result is a sophisticated, interdisciplinary work that unsettles the ways we think about freedom by always casting it in the light of its critical opposite.