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Business and economics

Understanding poverty in Africa? : A navigation through disputed concepts, data and terrains

Upphovsperson: Hårsmar, Mats
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Globalization, Trade and Regional Integration | Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 2010
Ämnesord: Economic conditions, poverty, Agricultural development, Poverty alleviation, Development research, Development theory, case studies, Burkina Faso, Tanzania, Africa South of Sahara, Business and economics, Ekonomi
In any international comparison, sub-Saharan Africa is the region with the most pervasive poverty. The study of African societies requires the study of numerous dynamics, processes and situations with links to poverty issues. Recent methodological innovations hold that research into poverty should be multidimensional, dynamic and cross-disciplinary. But how can such research be undertaken? This volume comprises two separate articles. The first provides an overview of major conceptual positions on poverty. With the focus on theoretical and methodological issues, it argues that the epistemological and normative elements have not been sufficiently emphasised in the attempts to bring different disciplinary approaches together. Such elements constitute fundamental dividing lines in the poverty debate. However, the article goes on to argue that the capability approach has promising potential for bridging these divides.The second article is an empirical study of recent poverty developments in Tanzania and Burkina Faso. Common to both countries – one in East and the other in West Africa – is that a largely subsistence agricultural sector dominates their economies. The article combines quantitative and qualitative methods to show that regional differences in the structures of agricultural production may in large part explain variations in poverty.

Social change and economic reform in Africa

Medarbetare: Gibbon, Peter
Utgivare: Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 1993
Ämnesord: Tanzania, Kenya, East Africa, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Southern Africa, Africa, Non-governmental organizations, Economic policy, Economic reform, Agriculture, Labour, Health, Political participation, Informal sector, Social change, Structural adjustment, Economic conditions, Business and economics, Ekonomi
The African-based authors of this volume provide a series of objective, detailed, factually up-to-date, and theoretically informed studies of reent developments in agriculture, the informal sector, the social sector and 'civil society' in Kenya, Lesotho, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. They analyse the main trends and forces operating in these fields and consider the economic reform programme's impact against this background.

Structural adjustment and socio-economic change in Sub-Saharan Africa : some conceptual, methodological and research issues

Upphovspersoner: Gibbon, Peter | Olukoshi, Adebayo O.
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 1996
Ämnesord: Tanzania, Kenya, East Africa, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Southern Africa, Africa, Non-governmental organizations, Economic policy, Economic reform, Agriculture, Labour, Health, Political participation, Informal sector, Social change, Structural adjustment, Economic conditions, Business and economics, Ekonomi
The African-based authors of this volume provide a series of objective, detailed, factually up-to-date, and theoretically informed studies of reent developments in agriculture, the informal sector, the social sector and 'civil society' in Kenya, Lesotho, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. They analyse the main trends and forces operating in these fields and consider the economic reform programme's impact against this background.

Förvaltning, ledarskap och institutionsutveckling - på Afrikas villkor : en antologi

Medarbetare: Wohlgemuth, Lennart | Carlsson, Jerker
Utgivare: Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 1996
Ämnesord: Africa, Leadership, Institution building, Public administration, Private enterprises, Management, Capacity building, Business and economics, Ekonomi
Här diskuteras afrikanska organisationer och institutioner och den betydelse dessa har för den ekonomiska utvecklingen. De olika bidragen i boken förenas kring två teman: den afrikanska organisationens styrka och särprägel är det ena, medan det andra behandlar erfarenheter av arbete med afrikanska organisationer i förändring. Författarna beskriver det komplicerade och tålamodskrävande arbetet som krävs för att utveckla institutioner, men understryker också de stora möjligheter som öppnar sig om det sker på mottagarens villkor.

The IMF and the World Bank in Africa : conditionality, impact and alternatives

Medarbetare: Havnevik, Kjell
Utgivare: Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 1987
Ämnesord: Nigeria, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Case studies, Development policy, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Business and economics, Ekonomi
Most Sub-Saharan African countries have, during the 1980s, implemented a program of structural adjustment in conjunction with the IMF and the World Bank. These international institutions have thus had a decisive role in the formulation of economic policies in these countries. In early 1987, a conference on the "IMF and the World Bank in Africa" was arranged by the Scandinavian Institute of African Studies in Uppsala. In the conference the character of the conditionality requirements attached to these programs were investigated by a group of international experts and their impacts were analysed on a macro-level and through specific studies of Nigeria, the Sudan, Tanzania, Zambia, Mozambique, South Africa, the Ivory Coast and India for comparative purposes. The conference also aimed at suggesting alternative and improved conditionality in the African context.

Science, ideology and development : three essays on development theory

Upphovsperson: Mafeje, Archie
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 1978
Ämnesord: Africa, Economics, Development theory, Agricultural economy, Capitalism, Economic systems, Economic growth, Development, Business and economics, Ekonomi
In these essays the author starts from two basic assumptions. First, he believes that science is as social and as subject to perversion as all other forms of knowledge in society. This being the case, there is no absolute way of separating science from the pervading ideologies of the day. In development theory it is only logical that the socially desirable goals should be strated before the instruments for realising them can be forged. But in the process of forging instruments for solving current problems new truths are often revealed which become subversive of the prevailing set-up. Nor should this be surprising in Professor Mafeje's view, for it is implicit in the concept of "critique" in Marxian dialects. According to the latter, there is no affirmation without a negation. "Development" as an evocative and affirmative concept can scarcely avoid the connotation of "destruction" of existing structures and theories. For those who are dissatisfied with orthodox theory, there is a great deal to recommend in these essays.

Why is agriculture so important to reducing poverty?

Upphovsperson: Hårsmar, Mats
Utgivare: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Globalization, Trade and Regional Integration | Uppsala : Nordiska Afrikainstitutet
År: 2010
Ämnesord: Agricultural sector, Agricultural economy, Poverty alleviation, Economic growth, Development theory, Africa South of Sahara, Asia, Business and economics, Ekonomi
Over the last few years, there has been both talk about and action regarding the long-term neglect of agriculture in development. An agricultural revival has occurred, with African governments committing themselves to spending at least 10 per cent of their budgets on agriculture. Donors such as the World Bank and many bilateral organizations are refocusing on the sector. This is partly due to the prevalence of rural poverty in sub-Saharan Africa as well as in South Asia. Despite this, the debate on the appropriate role of agriculture in economic growth lingers on among academics and policymakers. In particular, agriculture’s contribution to broader economic growth is questioned. Should growth be driven by agriculture or by something else? Recent empirical studies and earlier theoretical work demonstrate that growth in the agricultural sector has contributed more to poverty reduction than growth in non-agricultural sectors. This paper discusses this issue and highlights some of the preconditions for the achievement of this outcome.

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