Explaining the Failure of Democracy in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Autocracy And Dissent in an Ambivalent World (African Studies) - Hardcover

Afoaku, Osita George

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0773460349 ISBN 13: 9780773460348

Publisher: Edwin Mellen Pr, 2005

Synopsis

Osita (African studies, Indiana U.-Bloomington) traces the failure of the post-colonial nation-state project in the Congo to a failure of the elite who wrested power from the Belgians in 1960 to found a multi-ethnic nation on ideals that could both legitimize the post-colonial state and foster a shared sense of nationhood among the diverse constituencies. Like their counterparts in other African countries, he says, they were too preoccupied with capturing power to recognize the strengths of indigenous institutions and the need to domesticate the alien system bequeathed by the colonial masters. Annotation ©2005 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

About this title

About the Author

Dr. Osita Afoaku is Director of Outreach in the African Studies Program and faculty in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University, Bloomington. He received his M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from Washington State University, Pullman, and his Bachelor's degree in French at the University of Ife, Nigeria and L'Universite des Langues et Lettres, Grenoble, France. Among his recent works is a co-authored book Sustainable Development in Africa: A Multifaceted Challenge (African World Press, 2005). Dr. Afoaku was the 1998 recipient of the Lawrence Dunbar Reddick Memorial Scholarship Award from the Association of Third World Studies for his work on US-Congo relations.

Review

"Dr. Afoaku has provided us with a book that will facilitate our understanding of this troubled country. He introduces us to the country with a cogent analysis of its problems... This book has fulfilled its aim of analyzing the Congo's political history and the checkered fate of its people's struggle for democracy and social justice in recent years. Readers will also find insightful analysis on the solutions to move the country forward... The optimism of Dr. Afoaku, his passion for history as well as politics, and his belief in the future of the Congo deserve both our praise and support. We praise him because he has devoted his time to remind us of a tortuous history." - Toyin Falola, University Distinguished Teaching Professor and The Frances Higginbothom Nalle Centennial Professor, University of Texas at Austin and Fellow of the Nigerian Academy of Letters "The author succeeds in providing readers with an excellent excursion into several aspects of Congolese politics, with particular emphasis on the dynamics of autocratic rule and political dissent in post-independent Congo... Scholars, the world over, must be grateful to Professor Afoaku for finding the time and the energy to research and provide us with a very useful publication in the English language, especially since most of the previously published books on the Congo, although also useful, were written in the colonial language, French." - A. D. Assensoh, Professor and Director of Graduate Studies and Admissions, Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies, Indiana University "It is rare to find, in English, such a succinct explication, synthesis, and analysis of Congolese Politics and History. Dr. Afoaku takes the reader through 478 years of foreign interference and exploitation of the Congolese people." "It is rare to find, in English, such a succinct explication, synthesis, and analysis of Congolese Politics and History. Dr. Afoaku takes the reader through four hundred and seventy-eight years of foreign interference and exploitation of the Congolese people... [and] gives a chronology of the ill-rule, nonrule and misrule by indigenous Congolese political actors beginning with the brief rule and sad annihilation of Prime Minister Lumumba and his government by the CIA and local Congolese agents, the senseless brutalities of the corrupt dictator. Mobutu, and the undemocratic but short-lived governance of Laurent Desire Kabila... This work also lucidly demonstrates, without a doubt, the ripple effects of the Cold War and its aftermath on the Congo... it also elucidates the historical connection between the Congo and its surrounding geo-political zones and the Cross-Atlantic Slave Trade... Like many African countries, autocracy, colonialism, political misrule and fragmentation, economic slavery, as well as greed and theft have left an indelible dent on Congolese polity and economy. No other scholar discusses and synthesizes this fact better than Dr. Afoaku. There is no doubt that this gem by Dr. Afoaku acts as a confluence of politics, history, anthropology, sociology, and international relations." - Samuel Gyasi Obeng, Associate Professor of Linguistics, African Studies and International Relations, Indiana University, Bloomington"

Edition details

• Publisher: Edwin Mellen Pr
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0773460349
• ISBN 13: 9780773460348
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 222