COURSE OUTLINE AND READING LIST- POLI 356: STRATEGIES OF DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

UNIVERSITY OF GHANA

FIRST SEMESTER, 2015/2016

   COURSE OUTLINE AND READING LIST

                     LECTURER: Dr. Ransford Gyampo

                                 

COURSE OUTLINE AND READINGS

COURSE TITLE	STRATEGIES OF DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA
COURSE CODE	POLI 356
COURSE CREDITS	3
PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES	Welcome to POLI 356: Strategies of African Development. The Course begins with a thorough examination of the challenges facing contemporary sub-Saharan African development and a comprehensive review of leading explanations (with particular emphasis on the two rival theories of under-development – Dependency and Modernization Theory) given for perceived failures and successes. The second part identifies and analyzes the main strategies adopted for overcoming the challenges facing African development. The experience of Ghana (and other African countries) is analyzed in detail to illustrate the strengths and gains, weaknesses and challenges associated with various developmental options. Some of the options for African development that may be interrogated include Import Substitution Industrialization, Structural Adjustment Programmes, NEPAD, Millennium Development Goals, Debt Cancellation or HIPC Initiative, 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; examines which of the theories of under-development best explains the status of African countries and give justification for your choice; explain the strengths, weaknesses, trade-offs and prospects associated with at least four developmental strategies pursued by African countries since independence; and explain the linkage or otherwise between Democracy, Good Governance (Political Conditionalities) and Development.
OFFICE LOCATION	Department of Political Science, University of Ghana, Room 7
OFFICE HOURS	Mondays: 9.30am – 4.30pm
EMAIL	vangyampo@yahoo.com or revgyampo@ug.edu.gh
LECTURE PERIOD & VENUE	Wednesdays 17.30 -1920 @ NNB 1
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 13 weeks 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 30% of the final grades of students. The final exam would account for 70% 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