The anti-politics machine” by James Ferguson, a political and economic anthropologist, is an analysis on the failure of financial aids by more than 26 countries of Lesotho, a small landlocked nation of 1.8 million population surrounded by South Africa. The author positions two major critics; first, Lesotho is not of great economic or strategic importance, second, the history of development projects in Lesotho indicates that Lesotho cannot stand its economy and political stability through foreign development programs.
The author refers to the development agencies. He claims that such agencies are persuaded form of standardized improvement packages in order to discharge the money that they have to spend. Therefore, they target developing countries like Lesotho whose profile bears little or no relation to economic and social realities for such development packages. The author explains this with an example of the World Bank which targets Lesotho for issuing loans and shows an unrealistic image of this country to justify its loans. The World Bank introduces Lesotho as a subsistence farmer society and isolated from the market. Also, notes that the decline in agricultural surplus is due to migration of many of Basotho to South Africa to find job.
The declarations by the World Bank prove to be wrong as scholars say. First, Lesotho has not been a subsistence country but a producer in the twentieth country for the South African market. What’s additional, the Basotho were familiar with how to sell their products when they faced a surplus. Second, the decline in the agricultural spare has little to do with isolation and migration according to H.Ashton, the most famous and respected western ethnographer of the Basuto, who distinguished that l...
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...the mineworkers return from South Africa to Lesotho, they try to purchase ox and other animals rather than bringing cash with them because if they bring cash with them, then, their wives might demand them to buy new dress, furniture and other stuff for the house. One more reason for keeping and raising the number of livestock is associated with the prestige it brings in the community.
In conclusion, the author question the role of any development of any forms to reform the situation in Lesotho, mainly because it’s vague as whom should take parts in the development schemes and what plans should be prioritized as most effective and efficient for the overall welfare of the nation. He, then, concludes that everyone including the government should be included in the development programs in order to maximize the efficiency. However, he analyzes the situation as ambiguous.
Works Cited: Ferguson, James. (1990) The Anti-politics Machine: ‘Development’, Depoliticisation, and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho, Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Cambridge. University Press McMichael, Philip. The. (2000) “Development and social change: a global perspective.”
The impact of the Structural Adjustment Programs imposed by International Financial Intuitions (IFIs) such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund on the developing countries of Africa has led to the destruction of Africa’s social sectors and has handicapped Africa in its fight with poverty, the AIDS pandemic, and keeping children in school.
...ciety could buy and own a firearm. The wealth increased in Thull when herding diminished. The change to their economic system included cultivating potatoes as a cash crop, coupled with an increased number of fields significantly increased hard cash in the community. The supply of money expanded even further following large-scale timber exploitation.
Priscilla. “The World Economy and Africa.” JSpivey – Home – Wikispaces. 2010. 29 January 2010. .
It is thought-provoking, in the sense that Africa’s need for foreign created a race to the bottom, much like what Pietra Rivoli described in The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy. Due to some African states’ reliance on foreign aid in order to mine and profit on their resources, they allow business standards to be lowered and for Chinese firms to tip the contracts moresoever in the favor of Chinese firms. This lowers the potential earnings of African states by lowering royalty rates, for example. Additionally, Burgis’ research was thorough and transparent. When he did not receive a response or if his questions were dodged, he made it obvious to the readers. Sure, some could view this book as too anecdotal to be used as a credible source of Africa’s situation. However, this is due to the nature of the system Burgis is writing about; after all, they are shadow states for a reason. Some readers will be saddened by this text, others angry, most curious to learn more, but above all, everyone will be intellectually stimulated and
When it comes to undeveloped countries, the discovery of valuable resources can easily lead to resource dependence (Wantchekon, 1999: Anderson, 1995, p. 33 *; Robinson, 2006). As a result, political repression and political laziness often run rampant. Under these circumstances the incumbent party is almost always re-elected because of the appeasive payoff...
Fonchingong, Tangie Nsoh, and John Bobuin. Gemandze. Cameroon: The Stakes and Challenges of Governance and Development. Mankon, Bamenda: Langaa RPCIG, 2009. Print.
Crops such as cotton became such a lucrative product that farmers that grew food for the communities began to grow these “cash crops” instead. With food crops decreasing famine became a real threat in parts of South Africa.
Pieterse, Jan. "Dilemmas of Development Discourse: The Crisis of Developmentalism and the Comparative Method" in Development and Change 22 (1991)
How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney, was one of the most controversial books in the world at the time of its release. The book seeks to argue that European exploitation and involvement in Africa throughout history. This is the cause of current African underdevelopment, and the true path to the development is for Africa to completely sever her ties with the international capitalist economy. Rodney describes his goal in writing the book in the preface: “this book derives from a concern with the contemporary African situation. It delves into the past only because otherwise it would be impossible to understand how the present came into being and what the trends are for the near future” (vii). Rodney writes from a distinctly Marxist perspective by arguing that the inequalities inherent in European capitalism and required exploitation of certain countries in order to sustain capitalism.
Throughout the chapter the text exerts more emphasis on the economical evaluation of a country's development rather than the alternative method. It begins to branch off quickly into the classification of countries deriving new topics all relating back to the economical approach. Beginning this discussion is the topic of underdevelopment.
...tries. These ideas were discussed in lecture on February 16th, 2011, as well as explored in Manfred B. Steger's, Globalization: A Very Short Introduction, and I.B. Logan and Kidane Mengisteab's article, "IMF – World Bank Adjustment and Structural Transformation in Sub-Saharan Africa." Instead of globalization as a positive system for SSA, it did the opposite, and made the region stagnant in economic terms. It was about expanding relationships among countries, but adjustments were creating barriers that prevented SSA from economic communications with other countries. Therefore, it contributed to colonialism after World War II; colonial powers were able to indirectly control what SSA could do, and whom they were able to contact. The World Bank as a financial institution affected SSA's economic industry, and was partly responsible for the control colonial powers had.
Throughout the centuries Africa has been a continent of agricultural achievement and plenty. Agrarian practices and technologies developed in Africa were emulated by the world’s great civilizations and radiated to every corner of the world. It’s speculated by many naturalist (most notably Charles R. Darwin) that modern agriculture originated in Africa. Ancient cave paintings discovered by archeologist in Africa are certainly some of the earliest evidences of plant and animal domestication. Arabic and European historical accounts agree that African diets were varied and abundant from the beginning of recorded history up until the middle ages. The African continent is rich with natural and intellectual resources. Northern Africa has rich oil deposits that, once discovered, have made billions of dollars. Sub-Sahara Africa is rich with deposits of precious minerals such as gold and diamonds. Throughout much of history Africa has been thought of as a rich land. But the Africa we know today as being plagued by famine, poverty and war came about at a much later date. These tragic circumstances could have been partly caused by the massive economic dislocation caused by the slave trade and colonization of the 19th and 20th century (Hopkins 13). Colonial powers representing outside interest setup “extractive institutions” across Africa. These “Extractive Institutions” refer to those entities that exist for the sole purpose of pull resources out of a country. Now that many of the colonialist powers have left, these “European-style institutions” still exist well into the turn of the century.
As mentioned above, South Africa has been working on improving the lives of people. The Reconstruction and Development Program is one of the many that have been implemented that work on improving the life styles of people in South Africa. This is one of the strategies that has been very successful and is still standing as is. It is through this program that the lives of the many South Africans living in rural areas will be made
The harmful impact of globalization on South Africa has been apparent , through the financial squeeze and through market- oriented policies that have silent economic and reorganization, in job losses, crisis in schooling, closing of hospitals, make wider loopholes in the social security net, water cut offs, the degeneration housing shortage, and unrelenting starvation and poverty in a perspective of deepening discrimination in what is already the second most disparate nation on the globe.