Independent Africa Av Emmanuel Kwaku Akyeampong

<p><i>Independent Africa </i>explores Africa's political economy in the first two full decades of independence through the joint projects of nation-building, economic development, and international relations.</p> <p>Drawing on the political careers of four heads of states: Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Ahmed Sékou Touré of Guinea, Léopold Sédar Senghor, and Julius Kambarage Nyerere of Tanzania, <i>Independent Africa</i> engages four major themes: what does it mean to construct an African nation-state and what should an African nation-state look like; how does one grow a tropical economy emerging from European colonialism; how to explore an indigenous model of economic development, a "third way," in the context of a Cold War that had divided the world into two camps; and how to leverage internal resources and external opportunities to diversify agricultural economies and industrialize.</p> <p>Combining aspects of history, economics, and political science, <i>Independent Africa</i> examines the important connections between the first generation of African leaders, and the shared ideas that informed their endeavors at nation-building and worldmaking.</p>