The Failure of the centralized state : institutions and self-governance in Africa
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The Failure of the centralized state : institutions and self-governance in Africa
(Westview special studies on Africa)
Westview Press, 1990
Available at 12 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographies and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
After nearly three decades of post-colonial independence in Africa, the shortcomings of the centralist strategy of nation building and economic development have become evident. Development has stagnated, rural welfare has declined, ethnic conflicts have intensified, civil wars abound and many civilian regimes have fallen to military despotisms or rule as narrow oligarchies. This book seeks to explains why the centralized African state has failed. Contributors relate contemporary African history to theories of organizational behaviour, collective action, constitutional choice, public administration and institutional analysis, arguing that the centralist paradigm is fundamentally flawed in its theories of the basis of social order, the sources of political unity and the origins of economic development. The contributors discuss the breakdown of social processes and structures indirectly caused by the policies of the centralized state and examine the constitutional principles that might provide a basis for more effective national government throughout the African continent.
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