Sustainable Development in Africa: A Multifaceted Challenge (review)

By now it is pretty clear that hopes have been dashed for a continent in which economic growth, respect for human dignity, and sustainable development will take root. Instead of seeing prosperity rising from the ashes of its colonial past, Africa, unfortunately, remains a continent in which inhabitants are becoming poorer and sicker, and where mineral wealth has become a curse rather than a blessing. Since independence, many African nations have experimented with diverse approaches to economic development; they have failed because the experiments were mostly designed by experts who have never lived in or been to Africa and whose plans did not fit the circumstances in Africa.

Sustainable Development in Africa seeks not only to expose this sort of discrepancy, but also to argue that the key to improving the standard of living in Africa is sustainable development. Ukaga and Afoaku and their colleagues set out to demonstrate that sustainable development requires an appropriate system of evaluation that enables citizens to understand the situation in which they are operating, to figure out how to change the situation, to devise appropriate questions, and to find answers: "sustainable development is generally homegrown and not something that is readily or easily exported from one place to another" (1).

The book opens with Ukaga's introduction which outlines the argument and presents the structure of the volume. In the second chapter, Kwesi Kwa Prah explores the concept of indigenous development and identifies gaps in the current debate on sustainable development literature. He then offers a more holistic approach to underdevelopment problematics in Africa. In chapter 3, Afoaku argues that democracy is a prerequisite to sustainable development. He reviews current efforts at political reform on the continent and suggests ways to overcome the "fallacy of electoralism" in order to consolidate Africa's fledging democracies. John Mbaku's chapter 4 dissects public choice theory as a normative framework for sustainable development in Africa by uncovering the reasons behind the failure of the African state and calling for a state reconstruction through democracy in order to address Africa's political, economic, and social ills. In chapter 5, Julius Ihonvbere looks at the implications of constitutionalism for sustainable development, highlighting the correlation between the quality of a nation's constitution and the character of its governance. He reiterates his call for new rules of politics to build better platforms for democratic politics and good governance. In chapter 6, Geoffrey Nwaka evokes the worsening environment of African cities, the impact of the rapid pace of urbanization, and the enormous scale of unmet needs on the continent's cities and urban populations.

Daniel Omoweh, in chapter 7, examines the theoretical underpinnings of regional integration and offers an alternative framework that might help Africans more effectively undertake integration and significantly improve their ability to participate in the emerging global economy. George Kieh's chapter 8 tackles the security problématique and its implications for sustainable development. Having argued for going beyond the traditional state or military security, he calls for human security capable of meeting the basic political, economic, and social needs of the people. In chapter 9, Ukaga argues that Africa's agricultural development has been hindered by such natural factors as drought, irregular rainfall, poor soil conditions, and such structural factors as poor infrastructure, insufficient investment, and inclement global environment. However, the largest culprits are human and sociopolitical factors. such as poor governance, ineffective bureaucracies, and corruption. In chapter 10, William Ebomoyi and Afoaku examine the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic on sustainable development in Africa. Given the magnitude of the problem, they call for a holistic approach to deal with the pandemic. In the final chapter, Ukaga summarizes various policies that Africans can implement in order to enhance sustainable development in their continent.

Overall, Sustainable Development in Africa is an excellent addition to the literature on African development that policymakers, development scholars, practitioners, activists, students, and others will find useful...