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This Has Led Some Analysts To Conclude That African Society Would Do Well To ...

This has led some analysts to conclude that African society would do well to look to its pre-colonial past in order to secure its developmental future.
This dissertation starts with a review of the literature on the history of sub-Saharan Africa which considers how the continent has developed over time, and examines some of the factors which have impacted that development. This is followed by three substantive chapters. The first chapter discusses the top-down and bottom-up approaches to development, arguing that while most development initiatives in the past may have taken a top-down approach this does not necessarily mean the target populations have been completely passive in the face of interventions from outside. Furthermore, it is not possible to simply choose to adopt a bottom-up approach in order to correct some of the errors of past approaches. The second chapter examines how the colonial legacy has affected development initiatives in African countries since independence. This can be seen in two ways. The first of these is widely accepted and cited: economic, political and social institutions and methods of administration installed by the colonial powers naturally have an impact on how economics, politics and society is organised post-independence. The second element of the colonial legacy is perhaps slightly more controversial: development is viewed as a continuation of colonial power by a different name. In the light of the failures and problems associated with the top-down approaches to development and their inextricable links to colonialism, the third chapter asks if the best approaches to development in Africa will be indigenous solutions derived from African traditions which pre-date the colonisation of the continent. Finally the conclusion reviews the findings of the three chapters but cautions against making any sweeping conclusions or proposing any grand new plans for African development. It argues that African society does need to look to its past in order to secure its developmental future, but not only its pre-colonial past. A critical understanding of the continent's colonial and post-independence history is equally important in trying to ascertain what has caused problems for Africa, and how to solve those problems.
Literature Review: the history of sub-Saharan African development pre-colonial, colonial, and post-independence
Alemayehu (2003, 71) explains that, as is the case today, development across pre-colonial Africa was uneven. East and Southern Africa had well established economic links with the Middle East and Asia long before the Europeans arrived, mainly in terms of the supply of raw materials (such as gold, copper, grain, millet and coconut).


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