Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Maps
- ONE AFRICA NORTH OF THE EQUATOR
- TWO AFRICA SOUTH OF THE EQUATOR
- THREE THE OPENING UP OF AFRICA: (1) FROM THE NORTH-EAST
- FOUR THE OPENING UP OF AFRICA: (2) FROM THE MAGHRIB
- FIVE WEST AFRICA BEFORE THE COLONIAL PERIOD, 1800–1875
- SIX WESTERN CENTRAL AFRICA, 1800–1880
- SEVEN EASTERN CENTRAL AFRICA, 1800–1884
- EIGHT SOUTHERN AFRICA, 1800–1885
- NINE THE PARTITION OF AFRICA ON PAPER, 1879–1891
- TEN THE PARTITION OF AFRICA ON THE GROUND, 1891–1901
- ELEVEN COLONIAL RULE IN TROPICAL AFRICA: (1) POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS, 1885–1914
- TWELVE COLONIAL RULE IN TROPICAL AFRICA: (2) SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENTS
- THIRTEEN THE INTER-WAR PERIOD, 1918–1938
- FOURTEEN NORTH AND NORTH-EAST AFRICA, 1900–1939
- FIFTEEN SOUTH AFRICA, 1902–1939
- SIXTEEN THE LAST YEARS OF COLONIAL RULE
- SEVENTEEN THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE: (1) NORTH AND NORTH-EAST AFRICA
- EIGHTEEN THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE: (2) AFRICA FROM THE SAHARA TO THE ZAMBEZI
- NINETEEN THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE: (3) CENTRAL AFRICA
- TWENTY THE LONG ROAD TO DEMOCRACY IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
- TWENTY ONE THE POLITICS OF INDEPENDENT AFRICA
- TWENTY TWO ECONOMICS AND SOCIETY IN INDEPENDENT AFRICA
- TWENTY THREE INTO THE THIRD MILLENNIUM
- EPILOGUE
- Suggestions for Further Reading
- Index
TWENTY TWO - ECONOMICS AND SOCIETY IN INDEPENDENT AFRICA
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Maps
- ONE AFRICA NORTH OF THE EQUATOR
- TWO AFRICA SOUTH OF THE EQUATOR
- THREE THE OPENING UP OF AFRICA: (1) FROM THE NORTH-EAST
- FOUR THE OPENING UP OF AFRICA: (2) FROM THE MAGHRIB
- FIVE WEST AFRICA BEFORE THE COLONIAL PERIOD, 1800–1875
- SIX WESTERN CENTRAL AFRICA, 1800–1880
- SEVEN EASTERN CENTRAL AFRICA, 1800–1884
- EIGHT SOUTHERN AFRICA, 1800–1885
- NINE THE PARTITION OF AFRICA ON PAPER, 1879–1891
- TEN THE PARTITION OF AFRICA ON THE GROUND, 1891–1901
- ELEVEN COLONIAL RULE IN TROPICAL AFRICA: (1) POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS, 1885–1914
- TWELVE COLONIAL RULE IN TROPICAL AFRICA: (2) SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENTS
- THIRTEEN THE INTER-WAR PERIOD, 1918–1938
- FOURTEEN NORTH AND NORTH-EAST AFRICA, 1900–1939
- FIFTEEN SOUTH AFRICA, 1902–1939
- SIXTEEN THE LAST YEARS OF COLONIAL RULE
- SEVENTEEN THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE: (1) NORTH AND NORTH-EAST AFRICA
- EIGHTEEN THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE: (2) AFRICA FROM THE SAHARA TO THE ZAMBEZI
- NINETEEN THE ROAD TO INDEPENDENCE: (3) CENTRAL AFRICA
- TWENTY THE LONG ROAD TO DEMOCRACY IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
- TWENTY ONE THE POLITICS OF INDEPENDENT AFRICA
- TWENTY TWO ECONOMICS AND SOCIETY IN INDEPENDENT AFRICA
- TWENTY THREE INTO THE THIRD MILLENNIUM
- EPILOGUE
- Suggestions for Further Reading
- Index
Summary
The Years of Optimism
The wider world within which the majority of the African countries gained their independence during the late 1950s and 1960s demonstrated two apparently contradictory features. On the one hand, the Cold War between the communist and capitalist political systems was waged with grim determination by both sides and divided the world into two opposing camps. On the other hand, there was an upsurge of economic optimism which was common to the leading states on each side of the ideological divide. Experts of whatever economic persuasion – politicians, businesspeople, managers, economists, academics, civil servants – were firmly of the opinion that economic development, properly directed, could close the gap between rich and poor countries within a comparatively short time span. Prominent economists like Walter Rostow and Arthur Lewis wrote cheerfully of poor countries needing only brief injections of outside capital and technology before achieving economic ‘takeoff’, when they would cease to be mere suppliers of primary produce and learn to process their own commodities. Controlled industrialisation was the aim and, from both ends of the political spectrum, it was presented as something that could be determined by government action.
It was an aim which the leaders of the new African nations were happy to embrace and, for a time, it appeared that they would not be disappointed. During the 1950s and 1960s, commodity prices were generally favourable for African producers, although there were big fluctuations in the prices of some products.
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- Africa since 1800 , pp. 323 - 338Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005