School of Social and Political Science

Description

The Centre of African Studies is pleased to invite you to the following online book launch as part of its seminar series.

Speaker: Dr Ndongo Samba Sylla, Research and Policy Director, International Development Economics Associates  IDEAs

Chair and Discussant: Dr Hazel Gray, Head of CAS, University of Edinburgh

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought the nagging issue of the Global South's debt back into the spotlight. With declining export earnings and tax revenues, many countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia have found themselves objectively unable to service their foreign currency debt. This situation, reminiscent of the international debt crisis of the 1980s and 1990s, is the backdrop of the 38th volume of the Research in Political Economy series edited by Ndongo Samba Sylla.

In Imperialism and the Political Economy of Global South’s Debt, expert contributions connect the history of this issue with a range of factors including class dynamics, the changing landscape of sovereign debt markets, the global liquidity cycle, the enduring constraints of commodity dependence, ecological sustainability and the limitations of the current ad hoc sovereign debt restructuring procedures. In contrast to orthodox accounts that view debt crises in the Global South as a cyclical problem or as consequences of 'mismanagement' or 'fiscal irresponsibility'. Imperialism and the Political Economy of Global South’s Debt recognises the systemic nature of the Global South’s external debt, revealed only further by the economic uncertainty of the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the need to analyse it in relation to existing imperialist structures.

When: Wednesday 15th November 2023

To attend this event: This event will be hybrid (In-person and online). For attendance:

• In-person: Please join us at  Hugh Robson Building, Lecture  Theatre G.04
• Online: Please register in advance on Eventbrite, and a link to join the seminar will be sent to all registered guests on the day of the event.

Speaker Biography:

Dr Ndongo Samba Sylla is a Senegalese development economist. He is the Editor of Imperialism and the Political Economy of Global South’s Debt (Emerald 2023). He has previously worked as a technical advisor at the Presidency of the Republic of Senegal. He is currently a Dr Ndongo Samba Sylla (Research and Policy Director, International Development Economics Associates IDEAs). His publications cover topics such as fair trade, labour markets in developing countries, social movements, democratic theory, economic and monetary sovereignty. He is the author of The Fair Trade Scandal. Marketing Poverty to Benefit the Rich, Pluto Press & Ohio University Press, 2014, La Démocratie contre la République, L’autre histoire du gouvernement du peuple (L’Harmattan, 2015). He co-authored Africa’s Last Colonial Currency: The CFA Franc Story, Pluto Press, 2021. Dr. Sylla’s works have been regularly cited in the international press. As a Scrabble player, he holds four titles of World Champion of French- speaking Scrabble.