Unmasking the State

Unmasking the State PDF

Author: Mike McGovern

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 311

ISBN-13: 0226925099

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

"... A historical ethnography of the socialist period in Guinea"--Page 5.

Guinea

Guinea PDF

Author: Bram Posthumus

Publisher: Hurst & Company Limited

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 299

ISBN-13: 1849044554

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Guinea is rich, both materially and culturally, with the world's largest bauxite reserves, gold, diamonds and iron ore. It abounds in culture and traditions and has a remarkable, if often turbulent, history. Guinea is also exceptional in that it was the first French colony proudly to declare its independence, in 1958. Thereafter, the country suffered under the tyranny of Sekou Toure. Today, headed for the first time by an elected president, Guineans are trying to put their troubled past behind them and fulfil the promise of a decent life for all. It will not be easy. Tens of thousands perished in the years of chaos and even more human potential continues to go to waste. Guinea is the classic paradox: there are vast mineral reserves, its peoples are resourceful and the earning potential of agriculture and tourism is evident. And yet, most citizens are desperately poor and lack even the most basic services. Governance lies at the heart of this problem. Posthumus touches on all these themes, while taking the reader to all corners of Guinea, which is captivating and exasperating in equal measure. He also highlights Guinea's remarkable cultural accomplishments, most notably its globally renowned music.

Guinea-Bissau

Guinea-Bissau PDF

Author: Patrick Chabal

Publisher: Hurst & Company

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781849045216

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Since 1998 Guinea-Bissau has suffered a series of coups which outside analysts have linked to its emergence as West Africa's first 'narco-state'. Yet what does this mean for the country and the nature of the state in postcolonial Africa? What links Guinea-Bissau's instability with questions of wider regional and global security? What would a stable government look like in Guinea-Bissau, and what are the conditions for its achievement? The book constitutes the first synthetic attempt to grasp the consequences of the crisis in Guinea-Bissau. It fills a void in scholarship and policy analysis with a synthesis of both what has happened in the country and the wider implications for postcolonial African nation-building. With the current crisis in Mali, and rising interest among geopolitical actors in the region's stability, the contributors offer timely reflections on the causes and consequences of instability in one of Africa's most fragile states. Together they demonstrate how the undermining of the ideological construction of post-colonial African states derives from the historical fragilities and geopolitical conflicts which are acted out there. This is also the last book that Patrick Chabal, a significant scholar in contemporary political theory related to Africa, worked on.

The Upper Guinea Coast in Global Perspective

The Upper Guinea Coast in Global Perspective PDF

Author: Jacqueline Knörr

Publisher: Berghahn Books

Published: 2016-02-01

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 1785330705

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

For centuries, Africa’s Upper Guinea Coast region has been the site of regional and global interactions, with societies from different parts of the African continent and beyond engaging in economic trade, cultural exchange and various forms of conflict. This book provides a wide-ranging look at how such encounters have continued into the present day, identifying the disruptions and continuities in religion, language, economics and various other social phenomena. These accounts show a region that, while still grappling with the legacies of colonialism and the slave trade, is both shaped by and an important actor within ever-denser global networks, exhibiting consistent transformation and creative adaptation.

PNG

PNG PDF

Author: Jackson Rannells

Publisher:

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 236

ISBN-13:

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This book includes over 280 alphabetical entries describing the history, tradition, people, commerce, industry, and government of this diverse nation. Separate entries are included for each of the provinces, incorporating a map, the provincial flag, a summary of important statistics and more detailed sections on geography, climate, vegetation, history, people, government, transport, along with communications, health, education, and development.

Cold War and Decolonization in Guinea, 1946-1958

Cold War and Decolonization in Guinea, 1946-1958 PDF

Author: Elizabeth Schmidt

Publisher: Ohio University Press

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 327

ISBN-13: 0821417630

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Winner of the African Politics Conference Group’s Best Book Award In September 1958, Guinea claimed its independence, rejecting a constitution that would have relegated it to junior partnership in the French Community. In all the French empire, Guinea was the only territory to vote “No.” Orchestrating the “No” vote was the Guinean branch of the Rassemblement Démocratique Africain (RDA), an alliance of political parties with affiliates in French West and Equatorial Africa and the United Nations trusts of Togo and Cameroon. Although Guinea’s stance vis-à-vis the 1958 constitution has been recognized as unique, until now the historical roots of this phenomenon have not been adequately explained. Clearly written and free of jargon, Cold War and Decolonization in Guinea argues that Guinea’s vote for independence was the culmination of a decade-long struggle between local militants and political leaders for control of the political agenda. Since 1950, when RDA representatives in the French parliament severed their ties to the French Communist Party, conservative elements had dominated the RDA. In Guinea, local cadres had opposed the break. Victimized by the administration and sidelined by their own leaders, they quietly rebuilt the party from the base. Leftist militants, their voices muted throughout most of the decade, gained preeminence in 1958, when trade unionists, students, the party’s women’s and youth wings, and other grassroots actors pushed the Guinean RDA to endorse a “No” vote. Thus, Guinea’s rejection of the proposed constitution in favor of immediate independence was not an isolated aberration. Rather, it was the outcome of years of political mobilization by activists who, despite Cold War repression, ultimately pushed the Guinean RDA to the left. The significance of this highly original book, based on previously unexamined archival records and oral interviews with grassroots activists, extends far beyond its primary subject. In illuminating the Guinean case, Elizabeth Schmidt helps us understand the dynamics of decolonization and its legacy for postindependence nation-building in many parts of the developing world. Examining Guinean history from the bottom up, Schmidt considers local politics within the larger context of the Cold War, making her book suitable for courses in African history and politics, diplomatic history, and Cold War history.

Birds of New Guinea

Birds of New Guinea PDF

Author: Thane K. Pratt

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2014-10-26

Total Pages: 528

ISBN-13: 0691095639

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Previous edition by Bruce M. Beehler, Thane K. Pratt, and Dale A. Zimmerman.

Oil and Politics in the Gulf of Guinea

Oil and Politics in the Gulf of Guinea PDF

Author: Ricardo Soares de Oliveira

Publisher: Hurst & Company

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 379

ISBN-13: 9781850658580

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This book investigates the paradox at the heart of present-day Gulf of Guinea politics. The governance crisis festering throughout every one of the region's states ought to discourage outsiders from capital-intensive, long-term commercial involvement and cast doubts over the political survival of ruling cliques. However, the presence of large petroleum deposits radically changes this equation: the negative dynamics of state failure and widespread violence affect the general population but spare the oil nexus. The material and political resources made available by oil allow states to survive regardless of bad policies, facilitate their governing elites' material success regardless of reckless management, earn international allies regardless of erratic domestic conduct, and make companies want to invest regardless of risk. The recent oil boom only strengthens this paradoxical viability. Making possible what is arguably the largest inflow of resources into Africa in history, it is of a different order from the short-term viability afforded by the exploitation of other natural resources. Nonetheless, the partnership between insiders and outsiders that permits the extraction of oil is not conducive to positive long-term outcomes in institution-building or broad-based economic growth. Highly dependent on uninterrupted money flows and beset by various destabilising trends, the political economy of oil in the Gulf of Guinea is poised in a state of 'permanent crisis'. This study, based on extensive fieldwork, interviews and engagement with primary and secondary sources, is the first on the subject to take on the regional, as opposed to the country-specific, dimension. It has four key aims. The first is to bring out the extent to which oil has forged the interaction of the region with the world economy and how the ongoing expansion of the oil sector will deepen this pivotal role. Secondly, how this international relevance of petroleum has shaped postcolonial domestic politics and institutions. Thirdly, it examines the interests of different sets of empowered actors in the partnership between importers, producers and oil companies, their interplay, and the manner and contexts in which their goals diverge or converge. Finally, it analyses the sources of long-term sustainability of the political economy of oil in the Gulf of Guinea amidst seemingly unmanageable chaos.

Navigating Terrains of War

Navigating Terrains of War PDF

Author: Henrik Vigh

Publisher: Berghahn Books

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 9781845451493

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Through the concept of "social navigation," this book sheds light on the mobilization of urban youth in West Africa. Social navigation offers a perspective on praxis in situations of conflict and turmoil. It provides insights into the interplay between objective structures and subjective agency, thus enabling us to make sense of the opportunistic, sometimes fatalistic and tactical ways in which young people struggle to expand the horizons of possibility in a world of conflict, turmoil and diminishing resources.