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DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

UNIVERSITY OF GHANA

MODULAR SEMESTER FOR LEVEL 300 STUDENTS, 2021

 COURSE OUTLINE AND READING LIST

                     LECTURER: Professor Ransford Gyampo

                                 

COURSE OUTLINE AND READINGS

COURSE TITLE	STRATEGIES FOR AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT
COURSE CODE	POLI 356
COURSE CREDITS	3
COURSE DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES	The Course essentially interrogates the various strategies that have been put in place to develop Africa, since independence. It begins with a thorough examination of the challenges facing contemporary sub-Saharan African development and a comprehensive review of leading theoretical explanations of Africa’s developmental challenges. The second part identifies and analyzes the main strategies adopted for overcoming the challenges facing African development. The experiences of Ghana (and other African countries) are analyzed in detail, to illustrate the strengths and gains, weaknesses and challenges associated with the various developmental strategy options undertaken by successive regimes in Africa, including, Import Substitution Industrialization, Structural Adjustment Programmes, NEPAD, Millennium Development Goals, Sustainable Development Goals, Debt Cancellation or HIPC Initiative, The Call for Reparation, Regional Integration and Political Conditionalities (demand for democracy and good governance), etc, By the end of the Course students  should be able to state and explain at least five challenges to development that confronted African states at the time of independence in the 1960s; identify and explain at least two theories of under-development; explain which of the theories of under-development best captures the status of African countries and give justification for their choice; explain the strengths and weaknesses, of at least developmental strategies pursued by African countries since independence; and identify the reasons why Africa is still under-developed in spite of all the strategies of development pursued since independence.
OFFICE LOCATION	Department of Political Science, University of Ghana, Room 7
OFFICE HOURS	Mondays: 10am – 4pm
EMAIL	vangyampo@yahoo.com or revgyampo@ug.edu.gh
LECTURE PERIOD & VENUE	Main Campus (Thursdays 5:30pm-7.20pm @JQB12 & Fridays, 11.30am -1.20pm @JQB 23)   City Campus (Mondays  4:30pm – 6:20pm @ New Bloc 2, 1C)
MODE OF TEACHING	Face to face in class teaching with ALL COVID PROTOCOLS OBSERVED / Sakai (when necessary)
WEEK NO.	LECTURE TOPIC	TUTORIALS	ASSESSMENT
1	The Socio-Economic Dimensions of the African Development Challenge	Teaching/Graduate Assistants to assist students in defining the socio-economic challenges that confronted Africa soon after independence
2	The Political Dimensions of the African Development Challenge	Teaching/Graduate Assistants to assist students in defining the political and governance challenges that confronted Africa soon after independence
3	Overview of Theoretical Explanations to African Under-Development	Students to identify and discuss the various strategies that can bring about African development
4	The Modernization	Student to discuss the main arguments of the Modernization Theory
5	The Dependency Theories	Student to discuss the main arguments of the Dependency Theory
6	Overview of Strategies for African Development:	Students to discuss other theoretical explanations to African Under-Development with the guidance of Teaching/Graduate Assistants
7	Import Substitution Industrialization	Students to be guided in discussing the main arguments of ISI	Interim Assessment (30%)
8	Structural Adjustment Programme	Students to be guided in discussing the main arguments of SAP
9	Application of Political Conditionalities	Students to be guided in discussing the relationship between Democracy, Good Governance and Development
10	The Legos Plan of Action	Students to examine the main issues raised by the Lagos Plan of Action as a development strategy
11	The New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD)	Students to discuss the new ideas and strategies for development as propounded by NEPAD
12	The HIPC/Debt forgiveness/Reparation	Students to discuss debt forgiveness and reparation as  development strategies
13	The MDGs and SDGs	Students to critically examine the MDGs contributions to African development.  Students must be guided in discussing the various development policy prescriptions of the SDGs
14	STUDENT REVISION
15-17	EXAMINATION (70%)

 

 

 

COURSE READINGS

 

1. Handelman, Howard (2006) The Challenge of Third World Development, Fourth Edition, (New Jersey: Prentice Hall).
2. Ewusi, K.(ed) (2013) Policies and Options for Ghana’s Economic Development, Third Edition, (Legon: ISSER).
3. UNDP Human Development Report 2009.
4.  Rimmer, Douglas (1991) Africa: 30 Years On, (London: James Currey)
5. Sandbrook, Richard (2000) Closing the Cycle: Democratization and Development in Africa (London: Zed Books).
6. Collier, Paul (2007) The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It, (New York: Oxford University Press).
7. Kousari, Kamran (2006) “Africa’s Woes- Homegrown or Externally Induced” Europe’s World, (Spring ) pp 157-162.
8. Easterly, William “ The Utopian Nightmare”, Foreign Policy (September/ October 2005, pp58-64.
9. Cooper, Frederick (2002) Africa since 1940: The Past of the Present,. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).
10. Gyampo, R.E.V. (2015). “Dealing with Ghana’s Winner-Takes-All Politics: A Case for Proportional Representation?” The Journal of Social Sciences Research, Vol. 1, No. 4, pp 41-46.
11. Gyampo, R.E.V. (2015). “Dealing with Winner-Takes-All Politics in Ghana: The Case for National Development Planning” Governance, Vol. 20, No. 1 (January/February), pp 1-11.
12. Gyampo, R.E.V. (2016) The State of Political Institutions in Ghana, Revised Edition, Tema: Digibooks Publishing Limited.
13. Kwakye, J.K. (2013) “The Price of Leadership Failings in Ghana” Legislative Alert, Vol. 20, No. 5 (September/October), pp 1-4.
14. Roxborough, Ian (1988) Theories of Under Development. (London: Macmillan Education Ltd).
15. Frank, Andre, Gunder (1972) "The Development of Underdevelopment," in James D. Cockcroft, Andre Gunder Frank, and Dale Johnson, eds., Dependence and Underdevelopment. (New York: Anchor Books).
16. Lockwood, Mathhew (2005) The State They’re In: An Agenda for International Action on Poverty in Africa, (Warwickshire: International Technology Development Group Ltd).
17. The Lagos Plan of Action for the Economic Development of Africa, 1980-2000,(1980) (Geneva: ILO).
18. World Bank,(1981) Accelerated Development in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Agenda, (Washington, DC: World Bank).
19. The Africa Commission (2005) “Our Common Future”, Report of the Africa Commission
20. Rothchild, Donald ed. (1991), Ghana: The Political Economy of Recovery (Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers)
21. Gyimah-Boadi E. ed.(1993), Ghana Under PNDC Rule, ( Dakar: CODESRIA Book Series).
22. Leftwich, Andrian (1993) “Governance, Democracy and Development in Third Word”, Third World Quarterly, Vol. 14. No. 3 pp 605-624.
23. The Millennium Development Goals 2000
24. The Sustainable Development Goals, 2016
25. Armah, Bartholomew (2001), “Should Ghana Go HIPC”? IEA Legislative Alert Series, Vol. 1, No. 3 (March) pp 1-15.
26. Ayittey, George (2005) “NEPAD and Africa’s Leaking Begging Bowl”, IEA Policy Analysis Series Vol. 3 No. 5. (February) pp 1-13

 

REQUIREMENTS/ GENERAL INFORMATION

·        Extensive Reading (at least 70% of the required reading materials) is a MUST

·   There would be 6 weeks (but four hours meeting times) of lectures and students must endeavor to attend all lectures. The course shall not be done by correspondence.

·        Students must be punctual in attending all lectures. No lateness would be tolerated

·    Students MUST attend tutorials regularly and make MEANINGFUL contributions to class discussions.

·        An Interim Assessment would be conducted and would constitute 50% of the final grades of students. The final exam would account for 50% of students’ grade.

• For information on Grading Scale, students may refer to Undergraduate Handbook for details.

·        Students MUST comport themselves during lectures. No acts of indiscipline such as ringing of mobile phones and all other acts that could distract the attention of other students while lectures are on-going would be tolerated

·        All assignments and written submissions would be graded taking into consideration the University’s Plagiarism Policy. Students must refer to this Policy and be guided by its contents.