| Chapter 1: | Introduction: Transition, Continuity, and Change |
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It is this nuanced perspective to Africa’s developmental construct that this book engages. The anatomy of the current drive for Africa’s political and economic rejuvenation and rebirth through the African Union, as well as the current union government initiative, the NEPAD and African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) processes, the regional economic communities (RECs), and the content of those initiatives in practical areas of peace, security, citizenship, and economic development, are interrogated in this book. The overarching questions are as follows: Will those initiatives fulfill the pan-African dream of setting Africa on the path to sustainable development, democracy, rule of law, and good governance through collective political action and framework? Is there a synergy between the government and the people of Africa in the construction of the current economic and political agendas of the African continent? How realistic are those agendas for liberating Africa from the shackles of economic underdevelopment and political uncertainties? These are some of the issues addressed by the substantive chapters of the book.
The Future in the Past?
The urge for a united, continental political action has been an enduring issue in the development quest in Africa. Right from the first Pan-African Congress that was held in 1919 in Paris, which attracted representatives from African colonies, the Americas and the West Indies, to the fifth Pan-African Congress held in Manchester in 1945, a congress that not only domesticated the notion of pan-Africanism but also inspired nationalist liberation agitations, the reoccurring theme is Africa’s emancipation and the imperatives of development. The resolution of the fifth Pan-African Congress of 1945 affirms that