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6 - Economic Growth

from Part II - Problematic Explanations and Solutions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2020

Franklin Obeng-Odoom
Affiliation:
University of Helsinki
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Summary

This chapter shows that the re-imaging of Africa in growth terms is not only a reflection of Africa’s growth record but also creating "confidence in the market" by confirming that Africa is ripe and ready to host investment and to open up markets in areas where they did not exist or existed but were not capitalist in form. Either way, however, the "Africa on the rise" narrative – indeed all growth praises showered on Africa – achieve a major political and economic goal. Neglecting ethical questions about sustainable jobs, inequality, and ecological crisis, while extolling the virtues of capital accumulation, it extends a particular neoliberal ideology which favors people with market power, not the majority with precarious positions or their relationship with nature. Economic growth, then, must also be regarded as a problematic explanation. Like its tools of commodifying land (Chapters 2 and 3), labourlabor (Chapter 4), and the environment (Chapter 5), mainstream approaches to economic growth must be fundamentally rejected.

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Chapter
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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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  • Economic Growth
  • Franklin Obeng-Odoom, University of Helsinki
  • Book: Property, Institutions, and Social Stratification in Africa
  • Online publication: 27 March 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108590372.008
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  • Economic Growth
  • Franklin Obeng-Odoom, University of Helsinki
  • Book: Property, Institutions, and Social Stratification in Africa
  • Online publication: 27 March 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108590372.008
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Economic Growth
  • Franklin Obeng-Odoom, University of Helsinki
  • Book: Property, Institutions, and Social Stratification in Africa
  • Online publication: 27 March 2020
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108590372.008
Available formats
×