Rural migration in developing nations: Comparative studies of korea, sri lanka and mali (1984). Edited by Calvin Goldscheider Westview Press, Boulder and London
| Date | 01 July 1986 |
| Published date | 01 July 1986 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.4230060311 |
322
Book
Reviews
inexperience of the politicians and the fact that Western democratic systems are
fundamentally unsuitable for African conditions. He is rightly critical of over-
ambitious and half-baked plans for premature industrialization, with the
consequent flight from the land and the decline of agricultural production. This, on
top of overpopulation, and, in some areas, endemic famine, accounts for the
startling statistic that Africa now imports
20
per cent of her food requirements,
much of it from hard-currency sources. But he acknowledges also the
disproportionately devastating impact on struggling African economies of higher
oil
prices and the crippling burden of foreign debt incurred through the usually well-
meaning, but often misguided policies of the aid donors and the ready credits
extended by the Western banks.
Calvocoressi believes that most of Africa’s troubles come from without, not least
from some of the former colonial masters who still control and exploit African
resources, and from the Superpowers whose ideological struggle is a further
unsettling factor in areas where spheres of influence have not yet been finally
defined. He does not, however, spare the Africans either, and gives many examples,
from Ghana onwards, where the newly independent governments can blame nobody
but themselves for their failures. He makes two particular strictures-
overpopulation and corruption: here he seems unfair. Corruption is certainly
widespread in Africa but stems in the main from the tradition of African social life,
which requires the rich and successful
to
help the needy
of
their tribal extended
family, dipping their hands in the public till, if necessary, to do
so.
(More personal
corruption flourishes too, but
pace
Peter Calvocoressi, it is, in the opinion of this
reviewer, on a smaller scale than in most other countries in the world, including
Europe.) As regards overpopulation,
a
one- or two-child family may be enough in
the richer societies, but in poor agricultural communities in the Third World, with
high infant mortality and low life-expectation, such a limitation may be too much
of
a
risk, since the children provide the labour force on the land as well as security for
their parents in old age.
These are but minor points which do not in any way detract from the merits of this
admirable and sympathetic study, which should provoke debate and discussion
of
these pressing problems
of
Africa. As the author reminds
us,
though Africa has
manifest failures it has equally manifest needs, to which the West, in its own
interests, should pay more attention.
NICK
LAMOUR
RZPA
RURAL MIGRATION IN DEVELOPING NATIONS: COMPARATIVE
STUDIES
OF
KOREA,
SRI
LANKA AND MALI
(1984)
Edited
by
Calvin
Goldscheider
Westview Press, Boulder and London
This book is the product of the Brown University Comparative Urbanization project
undertaken by the Population Studies and Training Centre. The three parts of this
book are synopses
of
Ph.D. dissertations, each of which involved a small field
survey in
a
part
of
the country concerned. With this as background, the critical
reader will want to know if the book as
a
whole adds up to a significant contribution
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