T. D. Harper-Shipman is an assistant professor of Africana Studies at Davidson College.
This well written book is a critical interrogation of the term ownership in the context of development, which is necessary as the World Bank, civil society organisations and African governments remain ensnared in new forms of coloniality. By comparing how Kenya and Burkina Faso embrace the ownership paradigm in their respective health sectors, Harper-Shipman exposes how maldevelopment continues to be blamed on African countries rather than the ahistorical neo-liberal policy frameworks of donors. It is a fine contribution to the study of the political economy of development. -- Ama Biney PhD, independent scholar, Author of The Political and Social Thought of Kwame Nkrumah, London, UK This book expertly and carefully explores how the ownership paradigm portrays donors as not being responsible for development failures and African governments as being unable to make development decisions without donors' expertise. A must read for anyone interested in understanding how ownership of development is working in Burkina Faso and Kenya. -- Francis Owusu, Professor and Chair of the Department of Community and Regional Planning, Iowa State University, USA. Rethinking Ownership of Development in Africa is an engaging and well-executed study of the paradigm of ownership of development, which followed the structural adjustment phase of the neoliberal paradigm. Harper-Shipman does an excellent job in explaining exactly what is at stake in this more recent paradigm, and in particular what it means for Africa. A great read and a valuable contribution! -- Paget Henry, Professor at Brown University, USA This book is a detailed and fascinating expose of the power of language. It demonstrates with ample illustration how the language of 'ownership', coupled with consent of needy or poor countries, and the logic of neoliberal capitalism shifted the burdens of obligation and the liabilities for failure of development projects away from the counsels and experts of capital, lending states, and their experts onto poor countries. -- Siba N'Zatioula Grovogu, Professor of International Relations Theory and Law, Cornell University, USA