No Ready Models for Africa

Patterns of African, Development: Five Comparisons, edited by Herbert J Spiro; Prentice-Hail, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1967.
SINCE the Second World War. as more and more former colonies have attained independence and as the problems of their survival and growth have come to the forefront, the social sciences have demonstrated an increasingly strong interest in the study of their problems. A whole new field of development studies has thus emerged. Initially the focus of these studios was on economic development, partly because economic activity is more easily measurable and partly because there is greater familiarity with the processes and goals of economic development. In recent years, however, attention has shifted to the study of what is fro- qucntly termed "political development of the developing areas". An impressive literature has been produced on this. Besides competent studies of individual countries and regions, sustained efforts are being made to construct a theory of political development. While the significance of this growing literature cannot be denied there is still confusion as to the basic approach to the subject. There is as yet no agreement on the meaning of basic terms, including "political development", and no agreed standards for evaluation. Such agreement is important because at least some of these writings are likely to influence the course of development of these countries.