Introduction: New Directions in the History of Business and Development in Post-Colonial Africa

Abstract

European decolonisation posed new uncertainties and risks for European companies with an established presence in Africa. However, some firms found not just risk but opportunities in decolonisation. By examining the activities of foreign enterprises in various African states, and their strategies to stay in Africa, various contributors explore how some European companies benefitted from features of the new international landscape, particularly those provided by development aid. The book brings together research on different European companies (most notably those of former colonial powers) and considers their work or involvement in the development field after European decolonisation. In this introduction to the book, Dimier and Stockwell show how by bringing the study of foreign companies and development aid to Africa into the same frame of analysis, the book breaks new ground. They provide an extensive review of the historiographies of business and development in the colonial and post-colonial eras, and identify key features of European, and especially British and French, post-colonial development aid. They also introduce each chapter and the key themes and questions which these chapters address.