Book Review: How Africa Underdeveloped Africa

Abstract

The book “How Africa Underdeveloped Africa” by Stanley Igwe, published in 2010 in Port Harcourt- Nigeria, by Professional Printers and Publishers, x-rays the problems of poverty and corruption in Africa, and the challenges that it foists on the continent, especially in the area of development and poverty. In 159 pages, the author superficially analysed the causes and effects of corruption in the African continent, moving further to examine the different theories of economic development. The internal causes of poverty in Africa, as well as the nature and environmental conditions that allow corruption to thrive in the continent was examined by the author, who also attempted to puncture the central positions of the dependency school of thought, by raising seven arguments that was answered with capitalist positions and themes. Basic terminologies that crop up in any discourse that focuses on development, the Third World, or political economy, especially those like globalisation, diplomacy, mercantilism, and even neo-colonialism were defined by the author, to give a reader the main drift of his writing and positions, but these definitions seem jaundiced and unbalanced.

Keywords: Devevelopment, Underdevelopment, Poverty, Capitalism, Aids, Loans, Foreign Direct Investment, Colonialism, Neocolonialism, Imperialism, Slavery, and Globalisation