What is Political Development

The main objective of this chapter is to provide evidence that foreign Aid to African countries is a barricade to their sustainable development. Both modernisation and Dependency theorists' suggestions have failed to spawn socio-economic and political development in African countries. Complexity theory may provide a better understanding of the linkage between foreign aid and the socio-economic and political underdevelopment. The current foreign aid given to African sovereign states by donor or developed countries seems to perpetuate underdevelopment. In fact, Foreign Aid to most of African countries has not adequately addressed its problems; rather it has succeeded in keeping most of African countries dependent on foreign aid and in the state of underdevelopment. Using both quantitative and qualitative document analysis of records on foreign Aid to Africa reveals that foreign Aid in and out of itself is not a bad thing, it is among those many important resource inputs, which operate in many African countries which if paved with good intention could bring about sustainable socio-economic and political development in Africa.