Africa Unchained: The Blueprint for Africa's Future

The Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy's Ambassador John Price and Marcia Price World Affairs Lecture Series, in partnership with Westminster College and the American Express Weldon J. Taylor Executive Lecture Series, presents “Africa Unchained: The Blueprint for Africa’s Future” by Dr. George Ayittey, Distinguished Economist in Residence, American University, and President, Free Africa Foundation.

Why haven't the poorest Africans been able to prosper in the twenty-first century? Celebrated and world-renowned economist Dr. George Ayittey thinks the answer is obvious: Africa is poor because it is not free. Because colonial legacies and globalization present a myriad of difficulties to the continent today, Dr. Ayittey boldly proposes a new path for Africa – to modernize indigenous traditions of free enterprise, free markets, and free trade.

Dr. Ayittey is the Distinguished Economist in Residence at American University in Washington, DC and founder of the Free Africa Foundation in Washington, DC, which serves as a catalyst for reform in Africa. Educated in Ghana and Canada, his publications focus on the relationship between economic development, security, and freedom in Africa. He has published five books on Africa, including Africa Betrayed, which won the 1993 H.L. Mencken Award for "Best Book for 1992." In 2008, he was listed among the “World’s Top 100 Public Intellectuals” by the Foreign Policy magazine. 

The lecture will be held at Westminster College at the Vieve Gore Concert Hall in the Emma Eccles Jones Conservatory (1840 South 1300 East | Salt Lake City, Utah 84105).  The lecture is free and open to all.  For more information, please call 801-832-3272 or visit www.utahdiplomacy.org.