Impediments to Development

Abstract

Exploring the relationship between the lives Africans lead and the development challenges that prevail on the continent requires careful deductive reasoning. Such an effort is advanced and made exponentially better with the benefit of context – an understanding of what has been thought and said about development in Africa, the core reasons that experts and scholars have identified for Africa's socio-economic struggles and inability to achieve lasting social transformation. This context from what has been thought and said offers a roadmap to aid the work of careful analysis of our subject. This chapter thus reflects a critical synthesis of the literature on the impediments to socio-economic development in African countries, a synthesis that aligns the study's purpose, research questions, and ideological foundations. The chapter includes a discussion on the theoretical and conceptual foundations of the study and a comprehensive review of the literature.