Social and Political Economy of the Greater East African Region

What explains the perceived perennial inter (ethnic) and intrastate conflict, easily reversible and generally low levels of democratization, low per capita GDP, high levels of state failure and inability to attract foreign investment that characterize the social, economic and political realities in Africa? Is it the after-effects of a colonial experience that rarely prepared the countries for self-government, giving them the worst example of centralized government? Is it the boundaries that the countries inherited? Is it the low HDI indicators? Corruption, perhaps? This book, a collection of conference presentations, engages with the issue of African politics, democracy, boundaries and conflict, and projects the potential for future economic development by leveraging investments and technologies sometimes originating in the Global North but refined for the Global South, for example M-Pesa mobile money transfers. With special attention paid to the East African region, it studies the processes of regional economic and political integration, challenges to regional leadership and conflict resolution, and proposes the potential for a new political economy for Africa.