An up-to-date, comparative, examination of the developing economy of Tanzania and its grass roots progress out of poverty, with pointers to its wider implications for policymakers, NGOS and practitioners. Over the past thirty years, in common with a number of other Sub-Saharan African countries, Tanzania has experienced a period of painful adjustment followed by relatively rapid and stable economic growth. However the extent of progress on poverty reduction and the sustainability of the development process are both open to question. In this book, prominent international observers provide a range of different perspectives on the process of development over time and the issues facing a rapidly growing African economy: political economy; agriculture and rural livelihoods; industrial development; urbanisation; aid and trade; tourism; and the use of natural resources. Comparisons are drawn with other African economies as well as other developing countries, such as Vietnam. An invaluable deep review of Tanzania's economy and development, the book also looks at the wider implications of the research for the futureon the continent and beyond. David Potts is Honorary Visiting Researcher at the University of Bradford and was Head of the Bradford Centre for International Development 2015-16. He worked for six years as an economist in Tanzania's Ministry of Agriculture in the 1980s, has had many subsequent short-term assignments in the country and is co-editor of Development Planning and Poverty Reduction (2003).

Democracy, prosperity and self-rule: this was the vision of African independence. The founding father of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, claimed: "with self government, we'll transform Africa into a paradise in ten years." A mere 50 years later, Nkrumah's assurance seems no more than a distant dream. Across the continent, the "optimism" that characterized the immediate post-independence period has largely faded. Meanwhile, ordinary Africans lurch between undemocratic, unaccountable and unresponsive governments and a decaying traditional African past. How did things go so wrong? Why has the continent lagged behind others in economic development despite its potential natural resources? Why are so many African states prone to conflict? And why has democracy been slow to take root in a majority of the countries? The answers to these questions lie in complex interconnections between politics and society, between domestic and external forces. "Politics in Africa" offers a fresh perspective that makes the continent's problems more understandable, less wretched and even intensely hopeful. In doing so, it shows how many facets of traditional African values endure and that, despite unimaginable hardship, the continent is not a hopeless or even a sad place.

Democracy, prosperity and self-rule: this was the vision of African independence. The founding father of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah, claimed: "with self government, we'll transform Africa into a paradise in ten years." A mere 50 years later, Nkrumah's assurance seems no more than a distant dream. Across the continent, the "optimism" that characterized the immediate post-independence period has largely faded. Meanwhile, ordinary Africans lurch between undemocratic, unaccountable and unresponsive governments and a decaying traditional African past. How did things go so wrong? Why has the continent lagged behind others in economic development despite its potential natural resources? Why are so many African states prone to conflict? And why has democracy been slow to take root in a majority of the countries? The answers to these questions lie in complex interconnections between politics and society, between domestic and external forces. "Politics in Africa" offers a fresh perspective that makes the continent's problems more understandable, less wretched and even intensely hopeful. In doing so, it shows how many facets of traditional African values endure and that, despite unimaginable hardship, the continent is not a hopeless or even a sad place.