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It is a well-known fact that Africa continent is grappling with developmental challenges. The main objectives of this paper therefore are to examine the impact of neoliberalism on these developmental challenges and to encourage African leaders to take a bold and radical departure from the norm in order to chart a new course of development which will take the continent out of the woods of economic retardation and development deficit which envelope the region now. Drawing on the case study which centre on African realities and experiences, the paper discovered that the claim that neo-liberalism is the undisputable means of attaining economic development in Africa is an illusion. On the strength of this, the paper expands on the theory of assimilation with its concomitant smart or strategic protectionism through the adaptation of foreign technology, promotion of education and encouragement of entrepreneurship as means of genuinely engendering economic development in African. The research adopts qualitative and case study methodology. Similarly, the work embraces inductive research approach as the research process systematically focuses on finding answer to the question Of, What effective step can African governments take in order to candidly overcome the challenge of underdevelopment? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last few decades, the world has experienced significant economic and political transformation, which has led to adjustments in economic interaction between countries. However, this new pattern of economic engagement has not attracted adequate investigation from management researchers. This paper aims to fill this gap in the literature by advancing a conceptual framework that can guide researchers towards investigating new patterns of economic engagement across countries. Chinese economic engagement in Africa is used to exemplify how the conceptual framework can be used. The paper concludes by providing directions for research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though many African and Asian countries share a common history of European colonialism and thus a model of economic development shaped within the aegis of center-periphery analysis, many Asian countries have been able to ride through the burden of center-periphery economics and built more successful political economies than most African countries. This state of affairs has often led many African analysts to point to Asian success stories like China and South Korea for comparative analysis and often see these Asian countries as models of socio-economic and socio-cultural success to emulate. In particular, Africans in the Diaspora, especially Africans in China, tend to compare very frequently the socio-economic and socio-cultural conditions of their host countries with those of their source countries. This paper outlines and discusses how a group of Africans living in Hong Kong and other parts of Asia see Korea and Korean culture through the prism of Korean television dramas, which constitute a popular cultural phenomenon among Hong Kong/Asian youths. Through qualitative and quantitative survey methods, participant-observation, and questionnaire surveys, the paper reports on how African community members of Hong Kong and others think of Koreans. We show that Africans draw a lot of comparisons between Korean and African ways of conceptualizing the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper argues that, while globalization is a catalyst for international migration, its impact on Africa's development remains polemical. Generally, discussions on the impact of international migration on African development feature two contrasting views. One view, which is gradually gaining currency, points to tangible benefits from migration in the form of migrant remittance, which recent World Bank reports identify as the second largest form of capital flow to Africa after foreign direct investments (FDI). This view thus sees the impact of international migration on African development as positive. This paper, however, takes a different view and argues that the adverse effects of international migration on Africa, in the form of brain drain—the emigration of Africa's trained professionals—far outweighs the perceived advantages associated with migrant remittances. Consequently, on the aggregate, Africa's development suffers under the weight of international migration. The paper thus suggests the formulation of workable policies by the AU to manage the brain drain. Such policy measures should include a conscious attempt to address the root causes of the so-called "push factors" which instigate the emigration of Africa's brains in the first instance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper does not deal directly with the relations between Japan and Africa; instead it looks at Malaysia and Côte d'Ivoire with the objective of portraying Japanese contribution to Malaysian economic development and identifying some lessons that can be learnt by Africa from it. Both countries had a comparable macroeconomic outlook until 1980, with economics based on similar primary goods such as cocoa, coffee, palm oil, timber etc., which are typical of tropical climates. However, following the sharp decline in international prices since 1980, Malaysia registered a high economic growth and became successfully industrialized. Côte d'Ivoire suffered an economic crisis and a balance of payment deficit. Moreover, the latter is not a special case among African countries. The paper also seeks to advance some hypotheses in order to explain the phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the past decade, Uganda has become one of the world's fastest-growing economies, but the country's development needs have not yet been met, and the government's revenue sources are less than sufficient to satisfy them. Therefore, when oil was discovered in 2006, hopes were raised regarding Uganda's future, since the oil money could provide substantial funds enabling a transformation of the country. According to the latest figures, Uganda has 6.5 billion barrels of oil, which makes the country the third-largest oil holder in the SSA region (after Nigeria and Angola). Unfortunately, even though almost a decade has passed since the first oil was struck, production figures have remained at zero. Given the huge needs of Ugandan society and political rhetoric of Uganda as a developmental state, it is perplexing that it is taking so long to start extracting oil in the country. The major objective of this paper is to identify and analyse major causes of oil production delays (underdevelopment of infrastructure, environmental aspects, disputes with international oil companies, legal framework adjustments, and above all vast patronage network) as well as to contribute to a better understanding of recent dynamics in the Ugandan oil sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the intensity and the volume of financial and economic dimensions as it pertains to the relationship between China and various African countries since the end of the 1990s, the debate on these relations has just begun within a global context. The discussion on the nature of South-South relations, especially between a newly emerging industrial country, located in Asia, and the African countries, which represent the least industrialized area of the world, has more recently brought the subject of the unequal balance of power between the two regions under intellectual scrutiny. Several intellectual debates on China-Africa relations have been mostly reactive in the sense that many analyses have focused on Africa's past relations with the Global North. The existing literature on these relations has, to a large extent, not sufficiently located the discourse within the existing dominant ideologies, namely neo-imperialism and neo-liberalism. It is also important to localize these relations within the World Trade Organization's dogmas and practices, the United Nations Charter, and African Union Charter in order to assess whether or not they can be characterized as either neo-imperialist or neo-liberal. Furthermore, it is important to identify on which specific areas these economic relations have generally focused and in which specific African countries they have been dominant. How do the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party perceive and define them? How do the African Union and specific African countries perceive and define these relations? And what are the policy implications in China and in the African public sectors? The main objective of this paper is, using the data and figures from Chinese sectoral investments and export-import of China and specific African countries to make a critical evaluative analysis of these relations and determine if they are qualified to be called neo-imperialist or neo-liberal. The article is both an empirically-based analysis and a reflection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the major ways in which the economic development model of Meiji Japan, 1868-1912, applies to contemporary Africa. The focus is on capital formation and technology policies that contributed to Meiji Japan's rapid industrial capitalist growth: self-directed strategies, technological borrowing, taking advantage of shifts in comparative advantage from the product cycle, educational policy, business assistance, financial institutions, transfer of agricultural savings to industry, low wages policy, industrial dualistic complementarity, and foreign-exchange rate policies conducive to export expansion. For each of these policies, the author analyzes the extent to which African countries can emulate Meiji Japan's approaches or whether changing circumstances require modification of the Japanese model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the dawn of the post-colonial era in the various regions of the "Global South," including Africa, the appropriate role of the state in the development process has been a frontier issue. The resulting debate has revolved around two major trajectories: the minimalist state and the maximalist state. The former, shaped by the liberal cum neo-liberal Weltanschauung, posits that the state should have a limited role in socio-economic development—basically the creation of propitious conditions for the private accumulation of capital. Essentially, the suzerainty over the development process should rest with the "market" and its associated forces, particularly businesses. On the other hand, the maximalist state perspective asserts that the state should have a prominent role in the development process, including serving as the engine. Importantly, the debate has gone through various cycles, each dominated by the minimalist state paradigm. In spite of the hegemony of the minimalist state perspective, several states in the "Global South" have experimented with various models of state dirigisme — the "developmental state:" authoritarian (e.g. Singapore and South Korea) and democratic (e.g. Botswana and Mauritius). Against this backdrop, using the lessons learned from the experiences of some of the states in the "Global South" that have experimented with variants of the developmental state model, this article concluded that the social democratic developmental state is the best trajectory for promoting human-centered democracy and development in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the author discusses various aspects including joining of Professor Ademola Abass as the co-guest editor of the journal, economic regional integration in Africa and role of international organizations in economic growth in Africa.

A regression analysis of 92 Asian, African, and Latin American countries during 1970-85 produced the following results: (1) The effect of external debt on industrial growth is positive and statistically significant at high levels of state coercive capacity. (2) This effect is negative and statistically significant at low levels of state coercive capacity. (3) At middle levels of state coercive capacity external debt registered no effect. Based on these findings this paper puts forward the following three arguments: First, the "modernization" hypothesis of a positive relationship between external debt and industrial growth is more likely if state institutions are strong and capable. Second, the "dependency" hypothesis of a negative relationship between external debt and industrial growth is more likely when state institutions are weak and relatively incapacitated. Finally therefore, these two perspectives may be studied as special cases of a grander theory of development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks to reveal the primary barriers to fair economic development based on Kenyans' perceptions of power and globalization. This search was initially sparked by the seeming disinterest of First World scholars to understand the reasons why poor countries benefit so little from the global market as reflected in a subsequent lack of a wide-ranging existing literature about the subject. The literature suggests that global capitalism is dominated by a powerful small elite, the so-called Transnational Capitalist Class (TCC), but how does this relate to Kenya and Africa in general? We know that the TCC has strong connections to financial capital and wealthy transnational corporations. It also pushes neo-liberalism, which becomes the taken-for-granted everyday language and culture that justifies state policies that result in a further class polarization between the rich and poor. Using Kenya as a case study, this article draws on original qualitative research involving face-to-face interviews with Kenyan residents in different sectors who spoke freely about what they perceive to be Kenya's place in the world order. My interview results show that, on top of the general lack of economic power in the world order, the main barriers to Africa's performance are neo-colonial and imperialist practices, poor technology, poor infrastructure, general governance issues, and purchasing power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States of America invests heavily on their military capability and it is estimated that it spends, alone, approximately 40 per cent of what the whole world spends on military. Four of the other super powers that make up the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UN-SC) also spend a significant percentage of their national budgets on military. Chinweizu has for a long time argued that Africa needs a well-resourced African Standby Force (or the Black Africa League) that will protect the interests of the continent so as to prevent the history of Africans enslavement and colonialism repeating itself. This article seeks to analyse Africa's investment on its military defense capability vis-à-vis the five permanent members of the UN-SC and North Korea, by critiquing two case studies of two of the continent's economic giants – South Africa and Egypt. Realist and Sankofa perspectives are used as the prisms through which the article was researched. In line with Chinweizu's observation, the article argues that without serious political will and dedication to building Africa's nuclear weapons capability and ensuring that Africa is economically self-reliant, diplomatic engagements with the rest of the world as (un)equal partners will remain a pipe dream and the looting of Africa's mineral wealth will continue unabated. It is clear that given the reality of the African Holocust if African countries fail to collectively defend themselves, Africa will continue to be a political football for the rest of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this article is twofold. On one hand it elucidates the goals and dynamics of China's foreign trade policy since the 1990s. On the other hand it assesses the impact of this strategy on the development of the Central African Region as a case for China's influence on other developing countries. We observe that China is pursuing a pragmatic mercantilist policy that combines a wide array of diplomatic and economic devices. As a result the People's Republic gains ground slowly but surely. However, China's ascent does not lift the Central African states to a more favourable position in the global division of labour. We conclude that China's rise confirms the current economic position of African countries: that of a commodity supplier and a modest consumer's market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Africa's struggle against mass poverty and deprivation is examined using a constitutional political economy approach. It is argued that the failure of many African countries to deal effectively with poverty is due to the fact that since independence, these countries have not been able to engage in democratic constitution making to provide themselves with institutional arrangements that guarantee the rule of law. Such institutions must adequately constrain civil servants and political elites, enhance peaceful coexistence, and provide an enabling environment for the creation of wealth. The process to reconstruct and reconstitute African states has been on going since decolonization. The Arab awakening, which began in North Africa, and the pro-emocracy demonstrations of the mid-1980s and early-iggos, are a continuation of this effort to secure the laws and institutions that enhance the creation of wealth and provide an enabling environment for the eventual eradication of poverty. Unless the African countries provide themselves with institutional arrangements that guarantee the rule of law, poverty will remain pervasive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With China increasing its financing of Africa's development, roles have shifted and new roles are being assigned. The World Bank, having been for many years a prime and essentially unchallenged financier of Africa's development, is under pressure to reconsider its policies vis-à-vis African members. Two Chinese banks have been highly instrumental in this trend--the China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China. According to various estimates, over the past few years these two banks combined have lent more money to developing countries than the World Bank. This article explores in a comparative fashion a range of features of the World Bank and Chinese policy banks' practices in Africa. It argues that, even though such a comparison is methodologically problematic, the current dynamic is going to affect the norms of governance represented by the World Bank and its lending policies toward Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents abstracts on religious topics including involvement of corruption in religion, Pentecostal features in Africa and economic development of specific sectors.

Recent anthropological and religious, especially Christian, discourses on African witchcraft normalize the witchcraft imagination on the continent by failing to show how damaging the imagination has been to Africa's move toward modernization. While anthropologists normalize it by studying the phenomenon ahistorically and by rationalizing and reinterpreting it, scholars and preachers of African Christianity see it as the context necessary for the growth of Christianity on the continent. However, this normalization of the witchcraft imagination stifles the African imagination because it does not encourage Africans to think in scientific ways that may be more helpful in the transformation of the continent in our modern world. This article is an attempt to liberate the African imagination by critiquing the witchcraft imagination from a rational and theological perspective. It also proposes policies that need to be taken in order to overcome this ruinous imagination and facilitate Africa's dignified participation in the modern world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many cases it was China's longstanding solidarity with several liberation movements in Africa in the colonial period which was later upgraded to bilateral and state-level diplomatic relations in the postcolonial era. However, the twenty-first century has also brought about quantitative and potentially qualitative changes in Sino-African relations which are more complex than what the advocates of stronger Sino-African relations (Sino-optimists) and proponents of disengagement (Sino-pessimists) seem to suggest. The defining patterns of China's influence in Africa are either not yet fully crystallized or they come in paradoxical pairs. The essay spells out the manifestations of these paradoxes and what can be done under the circumstances to improve the African condition. The divergent schools of thought about the possible impacts of China's increased activities in Africa seem not to be totally unrelated to their underlying assumptions about the causes of Africa's unsuccessful modernization. The essay also explores these intellectual issues by focusing on the contradictory dimensions of Afro-Chinese relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The discussion explores the validity of dependency theories in the context of the emerging China-Africa trade and economic relations. Whereas the advocates of dependent theories assume that economic domination runs across north-south geoeconomic patterns, this author has concluded that the China-Africa economic links represent a distinct south-south dialectic occurring in an emerging new global economic configuration marked by a technology gap Consequently, even though synergies can be created by considering legitimate interests of each party, no matter how well-intentioned China is, Africa must still generate its own technological capacities and rid itself of its socio-economic traps. Ultimately, there will be no long-run benefit unless each contributes to the emergence of a new economic configuration that is deeply rooted in common or joint interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the concerns on the creation of the Organization for the Harmonization of Business Law in Africa. List of signatory countries from different African regions; Role of the harmonization of business laws with investment; Impact of judicial insecurity with investment and economic growth.

A calendar of global events from July to December 2015 is presented which include Making International Custom More Tangible in Great Britain, 2015 Conference of the African Association of International Law in Gabon and Advanced Course on International Criminal Law in The Netherlands.