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Presidential Address the African Crisis: The Way Out

I would like to thank my dear friend Adell Patton, Jr., whose advice and support I have enjoyed for over 20 years, for having suggested the title of this address: “The African Crisis: The Way Out.” Many other people, including colleagues in the African Association of Political Science, have helped shape most of the ideas that I present here. Needless to say, any errors or shortcomings are my own. Last year, my predecessor delivered a brilliant critique of the dominant ideology of development. The theory and practice of development in the West have reduced Africans to the status of perpetual dependents, unable to stand on their own or to achieve “sustainability” of development programs and projects initiated by outside experts. Characteristic of the fads and slogans proper to this trade, “sustainability” is one of the current watch words in the development community of public agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), international organizations, the Washington Beltway Bandits and like-minded consultants elsewhere, and fellow travelers in the academic community. The irony of the situation, as Aidan Southall so cleverly pointed out by analogy to Alur claims of rainmaking, is that our people were capable of taking care of themselves before these development experts set foot in Africa. While listening to Southall, I concluded that the issue of development deserved further attention from members of this Association. In celebrating continuity and change in African studies in honor of Melville J. Herskovits, it behooves us to ask critical questions on the African predicament and on the responsibility of scholars engaged in policy-relevant research.