Guy Mhone

The book presents a brief profile of each country and the background to recent political and economic changes, followed by an outline of the key reform initiatives, the implementation processes, the achievements and the problems encountered. [...] CO%3B2-3 Public Sector Reforms in Africa: Retrospect and Prospect Réformes du secteur public en Afrique: rétrospectives et perspectives of the 1981 coup and its aftermath as well as the processes that produced the agreement with the IMF. [...] Part 2 examines the nature of incentives in the African civil service and the reforms undertaken to raise public sector efficiency in Africa: Economic and institutional reforms in French-speaking West Africa: impact on efficiency and growth (Anders Danielson); Reform of the Malawian public sector: incentives, governance and accountability (Dick Durevall); Incentive structure and efficiency in the. [...] The author of this paper was the chairperson of an investigation into the operations of provincial governments which uncovered evidence of administrative malpractice, poor delegation and coordination, and the employment of supernumeraries and fictitious employees, the so-called ghost workers. [...] 201-217 Abstract: This chapter analyses the public sector reform involving commercialization and privatization of public enterprises in Zimbabwe which was part of the first phase of the Economic Structural Adjustment Programme (ESAP) sponsored by the IMF and the World Bank in 1991.

The book provides readers a set of case studies covering a diverse range of African states in order to identify the major causes of change and the movement towards democracy.

As a robust, critical assessment of power and accountability in the sub-Saharan context, this text brings together topical case studies that will be a valuable resource for those working in the field of African international relations, public policy, public management and administration.

From the Pharaohs to Fanon, Dictionary of African Biography provides a comprehensive overview of the lives of the men and women who shaped Africa's history. Unprecedented in scale, DAB covers the whole continent from Tunisia to South Africa, from Sierra Leone to Somalia. It also encompasses the full scope of history from Queen Hatsheput of Egypt (1490-1468 BC) and Hannibal, the military commander and strategist of Carthage (243-183 BC), to Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana (1909-1972), Miriam Makeba and Nelson Mandela of South Africa (1918 -).

This collection of essays introduces multiple social theories through discussions of ideas across national borders. In each of the nine sections, the first chapter introduces a theory in a context outside of the United States. The second chapter then responds to the first by refocusing the discussion inside the United States. It has long been understood that it is difficult to perceive one's own context as contingent on culture and history, thus, exploring social phenomena in a different context assists in perceiving the dynamics at play. Ultimately, though, social theory should be used to analyze one's own environment and understand how class, race, gender, sexuality, religion, etc., inform one's own culture. Examining Social Theory: Crossing Borders/ Reflecting Back brings together diverse perspectives on similarities and differences across borders and cultures, and provides a structure in which they juxtapose, align, contrast, and reverberate - the better for us to study, discuss, and understand.

Reviewed by Benjamin Roberts in Transformation. No. 50, 2002. pp. 105-113.

The world remains uncertain. Africa is fragile. Many issues remain unresolved and the African, and global, situation is worsening. South Africa has been at the crossroads for long enough. There can be no more delays, the time has come to address the many critical issues. In Africa's Wellbeing in an Uncertain World, Vusi Gumede discusses these critical issues about Africa, with specific focus on South Africa. He has revisited opinion articles and blogs he has been writing since the mid-2000s and taken his ideas and arguments, together with his deliberations on the recent changes globally and in Africa, and presented them in this thought-provoking book. While taking into account what others have said about similar issues, this is an attempt to get us to talk about these challenges, the important issues and fundamental problems, with a view to finding solutions. The future of the African continent could be bright if all the efforts that are being pursued for the improved wellbeing of Africans succeed. But, as Vusi Gumede reflects in this book, if South Africa is to achieve the society envisaged in the Constitution, then all South Africans, whatever the colour of their skin, have an important role to play.

Garth Andrew Myers' work makes a significant contribution to a long tradition of research on colonial cities and a multidisciplinary body of literature on urban legacies of colonialism. He examines both colonial rule and postcolonial inheritance in these cities, tracing the legacies of colonialism in different and divergent postcolonial settings—a revolutionary left-wing socialist state (Zanzibar) and a reactionary right-wing dictatorship (Malawi). In addition to the examination of urban plans and the African urban majority's responses to them, the book traces the experience of the urban planning process through three different "verandahs of power," or levels of class depiction: the colonial power, the colonized middle, and the urban majority. Interspersed with personal stories, this book illuminates our understanding of the workings of power in African cities by addressing human experiences of that power.

This book revisits the perennial challenge that scholars, economists, and politicians have been grappling with since the 1960s. Development, in this book, has been defined in a context that projects it as a multidimensional and complex process which seeks to enhance the human, social, economic and cultural welfare of the people. This book calls for a rethinking of trade and industry for Africa's development. It uses data drawn from national development plans and strategies, and trade and industry issues have been prioritized at the continental level, in key policy documents. On the whole Africa's industry and trade performance have been poor in spite of national, regional, and continental plans. The contributors to this volume propose some alternative strategies and policies which are necessary for trade and industry to grow and to contribute to the well-being of Africa's people. It calls for a developmental trade and industry policy which, fundamentally, must be people-centred. African states should invest time, energy and resources to develop policies which will take into consideration African realities.The different contributors are aware that Africa has experienced strong economic growth in the recent past but this growth has largely been due to a strong demand for Africa's primary commodity exports. It has also been a result of increases in productivity and domestic investment and remittances from Africans living in the Diaspora. It is important to note that despite this unprecedented growth performance, the impact of trade and industry on development has been limited. The book argues that a structural transformation of Africa's economies is inevitable if Africa is to achieve the shift from the dominant paradigm of production and export of primary goods. The various contributors to this book agree that there is need to rethink policy and strategy in order to achieve industrial development in Africa. There is no unique solution or answer that can fit all situations as African countries are not the same. While Africa can draw lessons from other regions which have successfully industrialized, this book argues that policies and strategies will have to be adapted to country-specific situations and circumstances.

Combining Catholic social teaching, feminist and African liberation theology, and the social sciences, Joseph Loïc Mben, SJ, develops a contextual gendered African Christian social ethic that addresses the oppression and marginalization of working women in Sub-Saharan Africa. He focuses primarily on African women from working and poor classes living in either urban or rural settings, particularly in Cameroon, and thus shows the necessity of inflecting Catholic social teaching along the differential of gender.