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The Political Economy of Africa: Connecting the Past to the Present and Future of Development in Africa

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The Palgrave Handbook of African Political Economy

Part of the book series: Palgrave Handbooks in IPE ((PHIPE))

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Abstract

This chapter locates the theoretical and practical aspects of the political economy of Africa in its historical, contemporary, and future dimensions. Although Africa remains marginalized in the global political economy, it remains unduly integrated in the direction of trade and composition of investment. Despite gaining political independence more than five decades ago, the economies continue to manifest the character of the colonial state. However, there are new changes in the structure of the economy such as innovation, revolution in global system of mobile communication, and services. These changes are changing the dynamics of the structure of the economy in Africa, in ways that can foster new forms of accumulation, redistribution, but also exclusion. The binary of formality and informality of the economy of Africa was also brought into fore, in terms of the systems of knowledge that informed their organization and operations. This chapter also contains the summary of the other chapters in the Handbook.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa

    Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba

  2. Institute of African Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba

  3. Department of History, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Toyin Falola

Authors
  1. Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba
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  2. Toyin Falola
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa

    Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba

  2. Institute of African Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba

  3. Department of History, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA

    Toyin Falola

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Oloruntoba, S.O., Falola, T. (2020). The Political Economy of Africa: Connecting the Past to the Present and Future of Development in Africa. In: Oloruntoba, S.O., Falola, T. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of African Political Economy. Palgrave Handbooks in IPE. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38922-2_1

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