Simonbooks’s Reviews > Democracy and Development in Africa > Status Update

Africa's underdevelopment is often blamed on colonial rule and Western imperialism. Ake disagrees and argues that an African elite captured postcolonial politics. Focused exclusively on maintaining and maximising its power, the elite never pursued any development strategy on its own. Rather it outsourced development to external donors, just in order to then blame Africa's underdevelopment on "foreign imperialism".