Inequality in Africa: Political Elites, Proletariat, Peasants and the Poor (African Society Today) Book

This study of inequality in Africa today not only rejects the orthodox approach of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which neglects income distribution and advocates greater external economic reliance, but also the statist Lagos Plan of Action, which supports comprehensive planning, large capital-intensive state firms and increased government intervention in peasant prices. Wayne Nafziger's political economy analysis shows how the colonial legacy, the contemporary global economic system and the ruling elites' policies of co-opting labour, favouring urban areas, distributing benefits communally and spending on education to maintain intergenerational class exacerbate discrepancies between regions, urban and rural areas and bourgeoisie and workers, even under 'African socialism'. The author's policy discussion eschews technoeconomical solutions, arguing that reducing inequality requires democratising political participation as well as economic control.