Challenges of economic development in africa: The dichotomy of a debate and the Africanist view

Abstract

This chapter analyses the intellectual discourse of Africa’s development experience. The turning points in the long trajectory are delineated and the contrasting ideological traditions informing those critical junctures are identified and discussed. The Manichean form of the debate, the irreducible argument of the root of Africa’s development panacea between endogenous and external factors is crucial, and the abiding nexus between intellectual diagnostics and policy prescriptions are noted. We underscore the fact that the strategies for economic development in Africa have conspicuously overlooked autochthonous solutions and the rich African diaspora.