Imperialism and Development (e-bog) af Westcott, Nicholas
Westcott, Nicholas (forfatter)

Imperialism and Development e-bog

253,01 DKK (inkl. moms 316,26 DKK)
A compelling exploration of one of the most ill-advised and calamitous interventions in colonial development history.As colonial development took off after the Second World War, in the context of national food shortages, Britain's Labour Government initiated the Groundnut Scheme, an extraordinarily ambitious project to convert 3 million acres ofbush in Tanganyika into the largest mechanized gro...
E-bog 253,01 DKK
Forfattere Westcott, Nicholas (forfatter)
Forlag James Currey
Udgivet 18 september 2020
Længde 260 sider
Genrer 1HFG
Sprog English
Format pdf
Beskyttelse LCP
ISBN 9781787449336
A compelling exploration of one of the most ill-advised and calamitous interventions in colonial development history.As colonial development took off after the Second World War, in the context of national food shortages, Britain's Labour Government initiated the Groundnut Scheme, an extraordinarily ambitious project to convert 3 million acres ofbush in Tanganyika into the largest mechanized groundnut farm in the world. It was to prove the largest, most expensive and most disastrous development scheme ever undertaken by the British Government. Never previously analysed in depth, the author draws on a wide range of sources to discuss the political dynamics that drove the Groundnut Scheme forward, despite the gravest doubts of agriculturalists and economists, why it went wrong, and what its impacthas been since on the practice of economic development. Initially employing the United Africa Company as agent, the government set up an Overseas Food Corporation to manage the Groundnut Scheme as an example of socialist development in Africa. Army surplus kit and demobbed soldiers poured into the country and were sent up the railway line to Kongwa to beat the bush. By the time the effort was abandoned in 1950, costs had risen to a colossal 36 million - equivalent to over 1 billion today - and yet almost no groundnuts had been exported. The prototype of many large-scale, government-run, high-cost development projects that failed to deliver, the Groundnut Scheme was perhaps the first major failure of agricultural development in Africa, and its legacy in development practice still with us today. Nicholas Westcott is Director of the Royal African Society and Research Associate at the School of Oriental and African Studies, London. His previous posts include Managing Director, Middle East and North Africa, and prior to that Managing Director for Africa, European External Action Service (EU), Brussels.