Ammassari, Savina. “From Nation-Building to Entrepreneurship: The Impact of Élite Return Migrants in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana.” Population Space and Place 10, no. 2 (2004): 133–54. https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.319.

The issue of whether or not return migration produces any development impacts on the migrants’ country of origin continues to raise the interest of policy-makers. Most empirical studies focus on the macro-level economic impacts of return. However, it has increasingly become apparent that socio-cultural and political impacts are important as well. Using both quantitative and qualitative data concerning highly-skilled élite migrants who have returned to Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, and stressing instead the meso-level of analysis, this paper demonstrates that return migration has, on balance, fostered positive development effects in both the public and private sector. The effects do vary, mostly across generations of migrants and in relation to historical periods. Whereas earlier migrants’ contributions tended to concern the realm of nation-building, more recent contributions are to be found in a more explicit economic context in the form of entrepreneurship. In particular, the paper illustrates the changes that return migrants have operated in the work place and dwells upon some significant, concrete examples of innovative practice and productive investment. The policy implications of the main findings are discussed, and some recommendations for future research are formulated.

Source: Article's abstract

Kwasi Ampene

Professor of Music at the University of Michigan (USA)

Email: kwasi.ampene@tufts.edu

Anderson, David M., and Adrian J. Browne. “The Politics of Oil in Eastern Africa.” Journal of Eastern African Studies 5, no. 2 (2011): 369–410. https://doi.org/10.1080/17531055.2011.573187.

After many years in which the potential for the development of the petroleum industry in eastern Africa has been largely ignored, the last five years has seen a resurgence of interest in oil exploration across the region. Long characterised as a "risky" frontier because of the difficult nature of the region's geology and the volatile character of its politics, the sharp rise in international oil prices, coupled with the difficulties in accessing other supply areas, has altered the prospects for successful commercial development of smaller fields known to exist in the region. The successful discovery of large oil deposits in the Lake Albert region of Uganda has encouraged the industry to view the region more positively, bringing an influx of new and established companies to tender for exploration rights in a wide range of fields covering Puntland, Somaliland, Ethiopia, Southern Sudan, Uganda, the DRC, Kenya, and Tanzania. This paper charts the extent of this oil exploration and industry investment in the region over the past decade, and discusses the economic and political implications of significant oil finds for future development. Additional exploitable oil fields may yet be discovered, but if only the Uganda fields are developed this is likely to have a considerable impact of the regional economy and upon relations between neighbouring states.

Source: Article abstract

Andrea Dumebi Iyamah

Fashion Designer, Mississauga/New York/Lagos

380 Courtney Park Drive East

Unit D, Mississauga, ON

Canada

L5T 2S5

Email: admin@andreaiyamah.com

+1 888 675 0308

Website: andreaiyamah.com

Anene, John N. “Military Administrative Behavior and Democratization: Civilian Cabinet Appointments in Military Regimes in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Journal of Public Policy 17, no. 1 (1997): 63–80. doi:10.1017/S0143814X00003433.

Military administrators in sub-Saharan Africa often appoint civilian political elites to cabinet positions for the following reasons: to advance effective governance, as a response to demands for transition to civilian rule, and as a political technique to civilianize the military regime. Empirical patterns of civilian cabinet appointments by the types of post-military political regimes show that the nature of civilian involvement in military administration is a valid predictor of the types of regime likely to follow military rule. Further findings confer some historical insights to the programmed and the national conference models of democratization in the region. In addition, military administrative analysis is a way to gain new insights into military transition in the region.

Source: article abstract

Anene, John N. “Military Elites and Democratization: Ghana and Nigeria.” Journal of Political & Military Sociology, 28, no. 2 (2000): 230–45. http://www.jstor.org/stable/45292813.

This study shows that intra-military elite competitive politics between the military democrats and autocrats determine the nature of democratization in Ghana and Nigeria. Also, the duration of the democratic transition is linked to the resolution of the intra-military democratization puzzle within the political military domain. It was also found that the political sociology of military coup behavior reveals the profiles of the military democratic and autocratic elite groups in the armed forces organization. Furthermore, the active support of retired ranking military elites for civilian electoral rule, since the 1990s, enhances the restoration of electoral civilian democracy. Therefore, both the political military activities within the military regime and within the "uncivil military" sector comprising retired military elites inform military democratic analysis in sub-Saharan Africa. Both sectors of the political military relations determine the "military factor" which is vital for successful democratization and sustaining civilian electoral rule in the region.

Source: article abstract

Ernest Toochi Aniche

Professor, Political Science and International Relations, Federal University Otuoke

Nigeria  

Contact: anicheet@fuotuoke.edu.ng/etaniche@yahoo.com

Francis Annan

Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, University of California Berkeley

Contact: fannan@berkeley.edu