Search

Chinweizu's wide-ranging and copious intellectual output persistently brings into sharp focus penetrating analysis of Asia's contemporary rise (read in Chinweizuan terms as autonomous modernization and industrialization) in juxtaposition to Africa's de-industrialization and with it her firm rootedness at the periphery of global power. "Africa's Staticity-Asia's Rise" is a binary that bothers Chinweizu to no end. In two key works presented in Accra and Abuja respectively (Chinweizu, 2010a; 2010b) he tries to find answers. The two papers throw up in my view, a few strategic questions : i. how should Africa relate to a rising Asia in contemporary times? ii. What will it take in real terms for Chinweizu's Black Superpower to emerge if the Asian example is a compelling one? iii. Is industrialization an existential necessity for Africa? iv. What kind of political, economic and social structures are required for a Black Superpower to emerge to command the respect of the world like Japan, Korea or China? This article will critically engage with these two works in order to attempt to respond to these strategic questions in the hope that it will aid in sharpening the theoretical underpinnings and practical processes for building the Chinweizuan Black Superpower. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at the effect of the new international division of labor on urbanization in developing countries. Previous histories, particularly of insertion into the world economy, affect responses to the new order. Also, previous phases in the organization of the world economy, particularly those associated with import-substitution industrialization, have shaped the urban systems and urban social organization of developing countries in particular ways. By comparing the tendencies of the import-substituting period with those of the new international division of labor, contrasts are brought out in the patterns of migration, the shape of the urban system, labor markets, and in urban social organization. The overall change is likely to be an increasing divergence, both within developing countries and between them, in their urban organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]