Discourses on development in Africa are intertwined with the location of Africa in the global political economy. Till date, stakeholders and social scientists still continue to debate the plaque of underdevelopment in the African continent. These debates are framed around discussions to explore suitable governance models that are proficient to transform the socio-political economy of the continent. Despite individual countries in Africa, conducting different developmental schemes to promote development, the level of development in the continent continue to move at a slow pace. Under-development in Africa is caused by many factors such as a as relying on primary exports, insufficient capital, inadequate basic infrastructure, political conflicts, unstable government as well as predominance of corruption in governance
The intention of this paper is to review, compare and relate the interventions proposed by the history icon Toyin Falola two books (“Globalization and Sustainable development in Africa” by House-Soremekun & Falola’s (2011) and “the palgrave handbook of African Politics, Governance and Development’ by Samuel Oloruntoba & Toyin Falola (2018)) on the development paradigm and its influence on the African political economy. The interventions include factors such as changes in foreign policy, political accountability, healthcare and environmental sustainability among many.
The paper further engages with the extent to which these are feasible in view of the weak institutions and declining capacity of the state. The research is based on documentary and archival reviews of the works of Toyin Falola and other scholars in the field of development. Developmentalism as a theoretical model will be used to interrogate existing literature on the subject of development in Africa. The paper argues that the new models of economic development proposed in the two books are sufficient to enhance the economic growth, self sufficiency and sustainable development of African countries.