Skip to main content

Toward Addressing the African Condition: The Lessons

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
  • 459 Accesses

Part of the book series: African Histories and Modernities ((AHAM))

Abstract

This chapter concludes the volume with the mapping of some of the ways in which the African condition could be addressed. Using the democratic reconstitution of the state as the pivot, the chapter argues that since the state in Africa is the arena of struggle, its portrait has a serious impact on the various activities that occur within an African country. Hence, a human centered state that is anchored on real democracy that entails such things as popular empowerment, the restructuring of power relations within the government and the broader society and its various forces—class, gender, ethnic, region and religion—would provide a firm foundation for tackling the various challenges that are confronting the continent.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Buying options

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  • Agbese, Pita Ogaba. 2007. The Political Economy of the African State. In Beyond State Failure and Collapse: Making the State Relevant in Africa, ed. George Klay Kieh, Jr, 33–50. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ake, Claude. 1996. Democracy and Development in Africa. Washington DC: The Brookings Institution Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clapham, Christopher. 1996. Africa and the International System: The Politics of State Survival. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • House, Freedom. 2015. Freedom in the World. Washington, DC: Freedom House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Idahosa, P.I.E. 2008. The Norms of Displacement: NGOs, Globalization and the State in Africa. In Africa and the New Globalization, ed. George Klay Kieh, Jr, 69–95. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ihonvbere, Julius. O. 2014. Civil Society, the State and the New Politics. In The State in Africa: Beyond False Starts, eds. Pita Ogaba Agbese and George Klay Kieh, Jr, 97–115. Ota, Nigeria: Third World Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kieh, George Klay. 2007. Introduction: The Terminally Ill Berlinist State in Africa. In Beyond State Failure and Collapse: Making the State Relevant in Africa, ed. George Klay Kieh, Jr, 3–22. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kieh, George Klay. 2008. Liberia’s First Civil War: The Crises of Underdevelopment. New York: Peter Lang Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kieh, George Klay. 2009a. Reconstituting the Neo-colonial State in Africa. Journal of Third World Studies 26 (1): 41–55.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kieh, George Klay. 2009b. The State and Political Stability in Africa. Journal of Developing Societies 25 (1): 1–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kieh, George Klay. 2012. Liberia’s State Failure, Collapse and Reconstitution. Cherry Hill, NJ: Africana Homestead Legacy Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kieh, George Klay. 2013. The African Peer Review Mechanism, The “Hegemonic Presidency,” and Democratic Governance in Africa. Paper presented at the Tenth Anniversary Colloquium of the African Peer Review Mechanism. Held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. May 21–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall, T.H. 1950. Citizenship and Social Class and Other Essays. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Matthew. Chapter 25. The King James Version of the Bible.

    Google Scholar 

  • Osaghae, Eghosa. 2006. Ethnicity and the State in Africa. Working Paper Series No. 7. Afrasian Center for Peace and Development Studies. Kyoto, Japan: Afrasian Center for Peace and Development Studies.

    Google Scholar 

  • Prempeh, H. Kwasi. 2008. Presidents Untamed. Journal of Democracy 19 (2): 109–123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Samatar, Abdi and Ahmed Samatar. 2002. “Introduction.” In The State in Africa: Reconsiderations, eds. Abdi Samatar and Ahmed Samatar, Portsmouth, 1–16. NH: Heinemann.

    Google Scholar 

  • United Nations Development Program. 1990. Human Development Report. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Kieh, G.K. (2018). Toward Addressing the African Condition: The Lessons. In: Kieh, Jr., G. (eds) Contemporary Issues in African Society. African Histories and Modernities. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49772-3_9

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics