African Development Focus on Ghana

1
African DevelopmentFocus on Ghana

• Dr. Roy Cole
• 1154 Au Sable Hall
• Department of Geography and Planning
• Grand Valley State University

2
African levels of development

• On the development indices for different regions
  of the world, Africa, and particularly Subsaharan
  Africa, is almost always at or close to the
  bottom.
• On every measure of economic and human
  development, the countries of Africa, with few
  exceptions, are on the bottom.
• Although economies in the rest of the developing
  world grew from the 1970s to the late 1990s,
  those in Africa (with some exceptions) declined.
• But in recent years some African economies have
  been among the fastest growing in the world.

3
Why might levels of development be low in much of
Africa?

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How can we understand African development?

• Political and economic strategies used by African
  leaders to guide their countries in development.
• Theoretical frameworks to understand the process
  of development.

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Contrast of Ghana and Singapore

• At Ghanas independence in 1957, both Ghana and
  Singapore were about equal in their development.
• In 1995, Singapore was declared developed by
  the United Nations.
• On average, Ghanaians were just as poor in 1995
  as they were in 1957.
• What happened to Ghana?
• How did Singapore do it?

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Case study of Marxist-Leninist development Ghana
The rest will be discussed in class ?