African miracle, African mirage : transnational politics and the paradox of modernization in Ivory Coast

Resource Information

The work African miracle, African mirage : transnational politics and the paradox of modernization in Ivory Coast represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in European University Institute. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

African miracle, African mirage : transnational politics and the paradox of modernization in Ivory Coast

Title remainder

transnational politics and the paradox of modernization in Ivory Coast

Statement of responsibility

Abou B. Bamba

Creator

• Bamba, Abou B., 1972-

Subject

• Côte d'Ivoire -- Foreign economic relations -- France
• Côte d'Ivoire -- Foreign economic relations -- United States
• Côte d'Ivoire -- History -- 20th century
• Economic development -- Côte d'Ivoire
• France -- Foreign economic relations -- Côte d'Ivoire
• United States -- Foreign economic relations -- Côte d'Ivoire
• Côte d'Ivoire -- Economic conditions -- 20th century

Language

eng

Summary

"Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Ivory Coast was touted as an African miracle, a poster child for modernization and the ways that Western aid and multinational corporations would develop the continent. At the same time, Marxist scholars--most notably Samir Amin--described the capitalist activity in Ivory Coast as empty, unsustainable, and incapable of bringing real change to the lives of ordinary people. To some extent, Amin''s criticisms were validated when, in the 1980s, the Ivorian economy collapsed. In African Miracle, African Mirage, Abou B. Bamba incorporates economics, political science, and history to craft a bold, transnational study of the development practices and intersecting colonial cultures that continue to shape Ivory Coast today. He considers French, American, and Ivorian development discourses in examining the roles of hydroelectric projects and the sugar, coffee, and cocoa industries in the country's boom and bust. In so doing, he brings the agency of Ivorians themselves to the fore in a way not often seen in histories of development. Ultimately, he concludes that the "maldevelopment" evident by the mid-1970s had less to do with the Ivory Coast''s "insufficiently modern" citizens than with the conflicting missions of French and American interests within the context of an ever-globalizing world"--

Member of

• New African histories series

Assigning source

Provided by publisher

Dewey number

330.9666805

Illustrations

• illustrations
• maps

Index

index present

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography

Series statement

New African histories