Claude Ake was a leading African political scientist and activist born in Nigeria whose highly significant and influential work on African political economy spanned over twenty years. His views on democracy, development, and rights widely influenced the development of social science in Africa as it is today. Ake critiqued the theory of development arguing that oppressed persons require a social science that fosters self-determination. He saw Western conceptions of social science as bearing capitalist structures which are themselves developmentally restrictive. This ushered several critiques on Eurocentric foundations of Western social science in favor of more African conceptions that, as Ake’s work did, emphasized a focus on the welfare of the average African, interpreting development from this standpoint. He suggested a dialectical materialist method as a more adequate approach for evaluating African political economy, identifying disarticulation and monetization as critical concepts...
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Ahiauzu, N. (2011). Ake, Claude. In: Chatterjee, D.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Justice. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9160-5_99
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