walter rodney book how europe underdeveloped africa

The effect of this trade was devastating in that it caused considerable dislocation and disruption in the local economy, caused internal conflict as a result of slave raiding and a huge loss of African labor. The trade in slave was facilitated by African rulers’ greed for luxury goods and European products. The “natural” path of development from communalism to feudalism and capitalism in Africa was messed up by the European slave trade. It traces the root of underdevelopment Africa back to the pre-colonial period. The main theme of the book is that underdevelopment was made possible by positive feedback loops starting with the uneven development in earlier centuries enforced by European constant exploitation of raw materials and human labor from Africa.

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa is an excellent introductory study for the student who wishes to better understand the dynamics of Africa’s contemporary relations with the West.ĭespite some naïve visions of the success of communism in the Soviet Union and China that might sound very silly to us (considering the book was written in 1972), this book still has some very persuasive points that explain African underdevelopment. his Marxist analysis went far beyond the heretofore accepted approach in the study of Third World underdevelopment. This pivotal work, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, had already brought a new perspective to the question of underdevelopment in Africa. When one society finds itself forced to relinquish power entirely to another society, that in itself is a form of underdevelopment.īefore a bomb ended his life in the summer of 1980, Walter Rodney had created a powerful legacy. In relations between peoples, the question of power determines maneuverability in bargaining, the extent to which a people survive as a physical and cultural entity. It implies the ability to defend one's interests and if necessary to impose one’s will by any means available. Power is the ultimate determinant in human society, being basic to the relations within any group and between groups.

The decisiveness of the short period of colonialism and its negative consequences for Africa spring mainly from the fact that Africa lost power.

Walter rodney book how europe underdeveloped africa