New Book | Innovation, Regional Integration, and Development in Africa: Rethinking Theories, Institutions, and Policies

Innovation, Regional Integration, and Development in Africa: Rethinking Theories, Institutions, and Policies

edited by Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba and Mammo Muchie, Springer, 2018, ISBN 9783319921792, 9783319921808. 

About the Book

This book discusses the role of innovation and regional integration in economic development in Africa. Over the past five decades, post-colonial African countries have struggled to break loose from the trap of poverty and underdevelopment through the adoption of various development strategies at regional, national, and continental levels. However, the results of both national and regional efforts at advancing development on the continent have been mixed. Although the importance of agglomeration and fusion of institutions have long been recognized as possible path to achieving economic development in Africa, the approach to regionalism has been unduly focused on market integration, while neglecting other dimensions such as social policy, mobility of labor, educational policy, biotechnology, regional legislation, manufacturing, innovation, and science and technology. This volume argues that the immediate and long term development of Africa lies not just in the structural transformation of its economies but in the advancement of scientific and innovation capacities.

The book is divided into four parts. Part I addresses the theoretical and conceptual underpinnings of innovation and regional integration in Africa. Part II presents case studies which examine how regional economic institutions are fostering innovation in Africa. Part III of the book deals with sectoral issues on innovation and integrated development in Africa. Part IV sets the future research on innovation, regional integration, and development in Africa. Combining theoretical analysis and a comparative, interdisciplinary approach, this volume is appropriate for researchers and students interested in economic development, political economy, African studies, international relations, agricultural science, and geography, as well as policymakers in regional economic communities and the African Union.

Table of Contents (21 chapters)

• Reframing the Debates on Innovation and Regional Integration in Africa | Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba
  
• Part I Theories and Concepts of Innovation and Regional Integration 
• Networked System of Innovation for African Integrated, Smart and Green Development | Mammo Muchie
• Innovation and Regional Integration in Africa: Exploring Theory and Praxis for Socio-Economic Development | Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba
• Innovating the Political Economy of Pan Africanism: Imagination and Renaissance | Abu Girma Moges, Mammo Muchie
• Innovating Policy and Systems of Innovation for Regional Integration | Christopher C. Nshimbi
• Transnational Simultaneity: An Emerging African Perspective of Cross-Border Lifestyle | Adebusuyi Isaac Adeniran
• Knowledge Valorisation for Inclusive Innovation and Integrated African Development | Saidi Trust
• Part II Regional Institutions and Innovation in Africa
• Regional Integration Prospects, Challenges and Opportunities in Africa: A Case of the Tripartite Free Trade Area | Moorosi Leshoele
• The Regionalism-Innovation Nexus: The ECOWAS Experience | Adeoye O. Akinola
• Institutional Capacity and Regional Integration: Reflections on the Composition and Powers of the ECOWAS Parliament | Ikenna Mike Alumona, Stephen Nnaemeka Azom
• Innovation and Economic Development in West Africa: The Challenges of Implementing ECOPOST in Nigeria | Adetola Odubajo
• The Role of Cloud-Based mHealth Disease Surveillance System in Regional Integration: A Case of the Ebola Crisis in ECOWAS | Lang Loum, Dikeledi A. Mokoena
• Higher Education, R&D, and Challenges in National Innovation System Building of Angola | Eurico Josué Ngunga
• Part III Sectoral Innovation and Integrated Development in Africa
• Regional Integration and Knowledge Flows: Effect on Manufacturing Productivity in Southern Africa | Alexis Habiyaremye
• Regionalism and Failure of the African Manufacturing Sector: Technology Transfer Policies as a Missing Link | Deus Costantine Shirati
• Intra-African Trade and Innovation in the Agricultural sector | Foluso Akinsola, Motunrayo Akinsola
• Unemployment and Informal Entrepreneurship in Zimbabwe: Implications for Regional Integration | Kingstone Mujeyi, Wilbert Zvakanyorwa Sadomba
• Analysis of Agricultural Innovation and Decision Making among Maize Farming Household in Nigeria: A Gender Approach | Opeyemi E. Ayinde, Tahirou Abdoulaye, Mammo Muchie, Oluwafemi O. Ajewole
• Social Innovations as a Response to Municipal Failures in Africa | Innocent Chirisa, Liasion Mukarwi, Abraham R. Matamanda, Aaron Maphosa
• Science and Technological Capability Building in Global South: Comparative Study of India and South Africa | Swapan Kumar Patra, Mammo Muchie
• Part IV Conclusion: Setting Research Agenda for Innovation and Integrated African Development 
• Conclusion: Setting Research Agenda for Innovation and Integrated African Development | Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba, Mammo Muchie

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