Matches in SemOpenAlex for { <https://semopenalex.org/work/W90125862> ?p ?o ?g. }
Showing items 1 to 79 of
79
with 100 items per page.
- W90125862 startingPage "125" @default.
- W90125862 abstract "The Fate of Africa: From the Hopes of Freedom to the Heart of Despair--A History of Fifty Years of Independence by Martin Meredith. New York: Public Affairs, 2006. 752 pp. [ILLUSTRATION 1 OMITTED] Explaining a False Start Fifty-one years ago this year, delegations from fifty-six countries arrived in Accra to witness the rebirth of the British crown colony of the Gold Coast as the newly independent state of Ghana, the firstborn of what would soon be a veritable wave of nearly four dozen African nations which would achieve political independence in the space of a few years. The Duchess of Kent represented her niece, Queen Elizabeth II, while Vice President Richard Nixon stood in President Dwight Eisenhower who broadcasted a special radio message, congratulating Ghanaians and expressing his particular admiration [for] the manner in which you attained your while emphasizing that he spoke for a people that cherishes independence, which we deeply believe is the right of all people who are able to discharge its (Heger 1999: 257). On March 6, 1957, few doubted that Ghana, and the states which would follow in its wake, would be able to discharge the responsibilities they assumed on taking their place among the world's sovereigns. As Martin Meredith notes in The Fate of Africa: From the Hopes of Freedom to the Heart of Despair--A History of Fifty Years of Independence, his monumental survey of the postcolonial history of the continent, rarely are states launched with as much promise as this West African country: Ghana embarked on independence as one of the richest tropical countries in the world, with an efficient civil service, an impartial judiciary and a prosperous middle class. Its parliament was well established, with able politicians in both government and opposition. The prime minister, himself, then only forty-seven years old, was regarded as a leader of outstanding ability, popularly elected, with six years of experience running a government. The country's economic prospects were equally propitious. Not only was Ghana the world's leading producer of cocoa, with huge foreign currency reserves built up during the 1950s cocoa boom, but it possessed gold, timber and bauxite. (27) Were one to have examined Ghana's economic indicators in comparison with those of, say, South Korea, the African nation evinced better prospects hands down. At the very moment the departing British governor, Sir Charles Arden-Clarke, bequeathed Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah an unprecedented $481 million in foreign reserves, South Korea's Syngman Rhee was presiding over a nearly bankrupt country eking out an existence on U.S. aid, having endured the thirty-five years of brutal Japanese occupation--in contrast to which the eighty-three year history of British rule in the Gold Coast colony was positively benign--only to subsequently suffer a devastating conventional war fought in its cities and countryside, which concluded in a military stalemate and armistice just four years earlier. In both aggregate and per capita terms, the gross domestic product of the Republic of Korea was lower than that of Ghana in 1957, with few prospects improvement given the near-total lack of exploitable natural resources on the Northeast Asian peninsula. Yet half a century later, South Korea boasts the world's thirteenth largest economy and is considered highly developed, ranking twenty-sixth on the Human Development Index of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), while Ghana, with its original endowment and all the natural bounty at its disposal, just barely makes the cut to qualify as a medium developed nation, ranking 136th out of 177 countries surveyed (UNDP 2007). Even with its underwhelming economic performance, Ghana is far from the worst off among African nations--in all fairness, after a disastrous few decades marred by military coups and statist economic mismanagement, it has slowly, but steadily, turned itself around since the restoration of constitutional rule in the 1990s, making up lost time through astonishingly rapid social, economic, and political progress. …" @default.
- W90125862 created "2016-06-24" @default.
- W90125862 creator A5009214781 @default.
- W90125862 date "2008-01-01" @default.
- W90125862 modified "2023-09-27" @default.
- W90125862 title "What Happened to Africa" @default.
- W90125862 cites W1511011121 @default.
- W90125862 cites W1511771555 @default.
- W90125862 cites W1538223704 @default.
- W90125862 cites W1544960813 @default.
- W90125862 cites W1696023616 @default.
- W90125862 cites W2024914273 @default.
- W90125862 cites W2042526771 @default.
- W90125862 cites W2044926836 @default.
- W90125862 cites W2046861294 @default.
- W90125862 cites W209639401 @default.
- W90125862 cites W2115898427 @default.
- W90125862 cites W2479355232 @default.
- W90125862 cites W269756371 @default.
- W90125862 cites W3098733039 @default.
- W90125862 cites W53670696 @default.
- W90125862 cites W57117453 @default.
- W90125862 cites W2885943391 @default.
- W90125862 hasPublicationYear "2008" @default.
- W90125862 type Work @default.
- W90125862 sameAs 90125862 @default.
- W90125862 citedByCount "1" @default.
- W90125862 countsByYear W901258622014 @default.
- W90125862 crossrefType "journal-article" @default.
- W90125862 hasAuthorship W90125862A5009214781 @default.
- W90125862 hasConcept C105795698 @default.
- W90125862 hasConcept C17744445 @default.
- W90125862 hasConcept C185181809 @default.
- W90125862 hasConcept C199539241 @default.
- W90125862 hasConcept C33923547 @default.
- W90125862 hasConcept C35651441 @default.
- W90125862 hasConcept C6303427 @default.
- W90125862 hasConcept C94375191 @default.
- W90125862 hasConcept C94625758 @default.
- W90125862 hasConcept C95457728 @default.
- W90125862 hasConceptScore W90125862C105795698 @default.
- W90125862 hasConceptScore W90125862C17744445 @default.
- W90125862 hasConceptScore W90125862C185181809 @default.
- W90125862 hasConceptScore W90125862C199539241 @default.
- W90125862 hasConceptScore W90125862C33923547 @default.
- W90125862 hasConceptScore W90125862C35651441 @default.
- W90125862 hasConceptScore W90125862C6303427 @default.
- W90125862 hasConceptScore W90125862C94375191 @default.
- W90125862 hasConceptScore W90125862C94625758 @default.
- W90125862 hasConceptScore W90125862C95457728 @default.
- W90125862 hasLocation W901258621 @default.
- W90125862 hasOpenAccess W90125862 @default.
- W90125862 hasPrimaryLocation W901258621 @default.
- W90125862 hasRelatedWork W1432612706 @default.
- W90125862 hasRelatedWork W1519311884 @default.
- W90125862 hasRelatedWork W2010359828 @default.
- W90125862 hasRelatedWork W2034599518 @default.
- W90125862 hasRelatedWork W2039517519 @default.
- W90125862 hasRelatedWork W2080356161 @default.
- W90125862 hasRelatedWork W2295168520 @default.
- W90125862 hasRelatedWork W2314307980 @default.
- W90125862 hasRelatedWork W2333169703 @default.
- W90125862 hasRelatedWork W2498360897 @default.
- W90125862 hasRelatedWork W2505900969 @default.
- W90125862 hasRelatedWork W2970569751 @default.
- W90125862 hasRelatedWork W306358136 @default.
- W90125862 hasRelatedWork W399938111 @default.
- W90125862 hasRelatedWork W782101211 @default.
- W90125862 hasRelatedWork W84133864 @default.
- W90125862 hasRelatedWork W850480662 @default.
- W90125862 hasRelatedWork W96028351 @default.
- W90125862 hasRelatedWork W175908543 @default.
- W90125862 hasRelatedWork W337386720 @default.
- W90125862 hasVolume "8" @default.
- W90125862 isParatext "false" @default.
- W90125862 isRetracted "false" @default.
- W90125862 magId "90125862" @default.
- W90125862 workType "article" @default.