Arrested development : the Soviet Union in Ghana, Guinea, and Mali, 1955-1968

**__Arrested Development__** **examines the USSR's involvement in West Africa during the 1950s and 1960s as aid donor, trade partner, and political inspiration for the first post-independence governments in Ghana, Guinea, and Mali.** Buoyed by solid economic performance in the 1950s, the USSR opened itself up to the world and launched a series of programs aimed at supporting the search for economic development in newly independent countries in Africa and Asia. These countries, emerging from decades of colonial domination, looked at the USSR as an example to strengthen political and economic independence. Based on extensive research in Russian and West African archives, Alessandro Iandolo explores the ideas that guided Soviet engagement in West Africa, investigates the projects that the USSR sponsored "on the ground," and analyzes their implementation and legacy. The Soviet specialists who worked in Ghana, Guinea, and Mali collaborated with West African colleagues in drawing ambitious development plans, supervised the construction of new transport infrastructure, organized collective farms and fishing cooperatives, conducted geological surveys and mineral prospecting, set up banking systems, managed international trade, and staffed repairs workshops and ministerial bureaucracies alike. The exchanges and clashes born out of the encounter between Soviet and West African ideas, ambitions, and hopes about development reveal the USSR as a central actor in the history of economic development in the twentieth century.

Arrested Development examines the USSR's involvement in West Africa during the 1950s and 1960s as aid donor, trade partner, and political inspiration for the first post-independence governments in Ghana, Guinea, and Mali.

Buoyed by solid economic performance in the 1950s, the USSR opened itself up to the world and launched a series of programs aimed at supporting the search for economic development in newly independent countries in Africa and Asia. These countries, emerging from decades of colonial domination, looked at the USSR as an example to strengthen political and economic independence. Based on extensive research in Russian and West African archives, Alessandro Iandolo explores the ideas that guided Soviet engagement in West Africa, investigates the projects that the USSR sponsored "on the ground," and analyzes their implementation and legacy.

The Soviet specialists who worked in Ghana, Guinea, and Mali collaborated with West African colleagues in drawing ambitious development plans, supervised the construction of new transport infrastructure, organized collective farms and fishing cooperatives, conducted geological surveys and mineral prospecting, set up banking systems, managed international trade, and staffed repairs workshops and ministerial bureaucracies alike. The exchanges and clashes born out of the encounter between Soviet and West African ideas, ambitions, and hopes about development reveal the USSR as a central actor in the history of economic development in the twentieth century.

Arrested Development examinesthe USSR's involvement in West Africa during the 1950s and 1960s asaid donor, trade partner, and political inspiration for the firstpost-independence governments in Ghana, Guinea, andMali.

Buoyed by solid economic performance in the 1950s, the USSRopened itself up to the world and launched a series of programsaimed at supporting the search for economic development in newlyindependent countries in Africa and Asia. These countries, emergingfrom decades of colonial domination, looked at the USSR as anexample to strengthen political and economic independence. Based onextensive research in Russian and West African archives, AlessandroIandolo explores the ideas that guided Soviet engagement in WestAfrica, investigates the projects that the USSR sponsored "on theground," and analyzes their implementation and legacy.

The Soviet specialists who worked in Ghana, Guinea, and Malicollaborated with West African colleagues in drawing ambitiousdevelopment plans, supervised the construction of new transportinfrastructure, organized collective farms and fishingcooperatives, conducted geological surveys and mineral prospecting,set up banking systems, managed international trade, and staffedrepairs workshops and ministerial bureaucracies alike. Theexchanges and clashes born out of the encounter between Soviet andWest African ideas, ambitions, and hopes about development revealthe USSR as a central actor in the history of economic developmentin the twentieth century.

" 'Arrested Development' examines the USSR's involvement in West Africa during the 1950s and 1960s as aid donor, trade partner, and political inspiration for the first post-independence governments in Ghana, Guinea, and Mali. Buoyed by solid economic performance in the 1950s, the USSR opened itself up to the world and launched a series of programs aimed at supporting the search for economic development in newly independent countries in Africa and Asia. These countries, emerging from decades of colonial domination, looked at the USSR as an example to strengthen political and economic independence. Based on extensive research in Russian and West African archives, Alessandro Iandolo explores the ideas that guided Soviet engagement in West Africa, investigates the projects that the USSR sponsored "on the ground," and analyzes their implementation and legacy. The Soviet specialists who worked in Ghana, Guinea, and Mali collaborated with West African colleagues in drawing ambitious development plans, supervised the construction of new transport infrastructure, organized collective farms and fishing cooperatives, conducted geological surveys and mineral prospecting, set up banking systems, managed international trade, and staffed repairs workshops and ministerial bureaucracies alike. The exchanges and clashes born out of the encounter between Soviet and West African ideas, ambitions, and hopes about development reveal the USSR as a central actor in the history of economic development in the twentieth century." "The book examines the USSR's involvement in West Africa during the 1950s and 1960s as aid donor, trade partner, and political inspiration for the first post-independence governments in Ghana, Guinea, and Mali. Based on extensive archival research, it follows Soviet engagement in West Africa from Ghana's independence in 1957 until Khrushchev's fall from power in 1964. The author traces the design and implementation of Soviet-sponsored modernization projects in agriculture, industry, and infrastructure. Soviet internationalism was both ideology and practice, and this book explores how postwar socialist ideas about economic growth became practice in Africa, exploring the implications for both Soviet and African actors. That experiment gives us a lens through which to examine the socialist politics of development, trade, and globalization."-- Provided by publisher Contents Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Note on Transliteration Introduction 1. A Farewell to Arms: De-Stalinization, the Soviet Economy, and the Global Cold War 2. Brave New World: The Soviet Union and the Making of the Third World 3. First Contact 4. The Heart of the Matter 5. Things Fall Apart 6. The End of the Affair Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index