Sovereignty without power : Liberia in the age of empires, 1822-1980 / Leigh Gardner.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gardner, Leigh, author.

Series:

Cambridge studies in economic history.

Cambridge studies in economic history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Liberia--Economic conditions--19th century.

Liberia.

Liberia--Economic conditions--20th century.

Liberia--History--19th century.

Liberia--History--20th century.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxii, 340 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2023.

Summary:

What did independence mean during the age of empires? How did independent governments balance different interests when they made policies about trade, money and access to foreign capital? Sovereignty without Power tells the story of Liberia, one of the few African countries to maintain independence through the colonial period. Established in 1822 as a colony for freed slaves from the United States, Liberia's history illustrates how the government's efforts to exercise its economic sovereignty and engage with the global economy shaped Liberia's economic and political development over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Drawing together a wide range of archival sources, Leigh A. Gardner presents the first quantitative estimates of Liberian's economic performance and uses these to compare it to its colonized neighbors and other independent countries. Liberia's history anticipated challenges still faced by developing countries today, and offers a new perspective on the role of power and power relationships in shaping Africa's economic history.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 27 Oct 2022).

Includes bibliographical references (pages 307-334) and index.

ISBN:

1-009-19097-0

1-009-19096-2

1-009-18108-4