In the wake of economic crisis and civil war, it is tempting to take a pessimistic view of Africa's future. However, recent policy reforms, accompanied by improved growth, suggest a more optimistic prospecct for the next decade . This collection of essays outlines and discusses the multiple challenges that Africa faces as it enters the new millennium. How should it transform its demonstrated resilience into the virtues of sustained growth, poverty reduction and the building of democratic institutions? How will individual countries respond to the exigencies of the world market economy? Dr...

Poverty is a large and growing problem in Africa resulting in an immense amount of avoidable suffering, foreshortened lives, frustrated potentials, and joyless existences. The poverty trap is more than just an economic phenomenon but a social phenomenon as well. 'African Poverty at the Millennium: Causes, Complexities, and Challenges' is confined to the sub-Saharan region of Africa. The analysis found in Part I of this book, emphasizes the many-sided nature of poverty and the importance of going beyond generalizations about the poor. Part II looks at the various causes of poverty in Africa,...

The main goal of this book is to put urbanization and its challenges squarely on Africa's development agenda. Planned urbanization can improve living conditions for the majority, help in the expansion of the middle class, and create conditions for economic transformation. However, many African cities have developed haphazardly, resulting in the decline of public services, in slum proliferation, and increases in poverty. African cities thrive on activities characterized by easy entry and low productivity, generally referred to as the 'informal sector'. Indeed, today some urban dwellers are...

Uganda in the 1970s and early 1980s was one of Africa's more tragic economic stories. Emerging from civil war, it had to embark on reform in the early to mid-1980s from a position of severe political weakness. In the study, the effects of economic policy at the aggregate level are discussed in detail, but 'snapshot' empirical analyses of responses at the household level, both urban and rural, are also presented. Uganda was for many years considered to be Africa's 'worst case'; its recent recovery thus provides hope for similar countries in the region.