Category: Africa Policy/Politics/Development

This paper argues that the ultimate reason explaining the disparate concession outcomes is a function of zero-sum politics versus positive-sum politics, which are present in Côte d'Ivoire and Senegal respectively. Through exploring two underlying, pre-democratization variables, the catalyst of democratization, and two consequential, post-democratization variables, this paper will demonstrate how and why Senegal and Côte d'Ivoire differ in terms of zero-sum/positive-sum politics, and how this ultimate reason explains why Wade chose to peacefully concede his defeat while Gbagbo did not.

Guinea Ecuatorial tiene el mayor PIB per cápita de cualquier país de África, pero esta estadística no cuenta toda la historia; la desigualdad económica es generalizada, con gran parte de la riqueza concentrada en manos de la élite política, especialmente la familia del presidente Obiang (Freixa, 2018). Sin embargo, el país no siempre tuvo entradas dramáticas de riqueza. Antes del descubrimiento del petróleo, Guinea Ecuatorial era uno de los países más pobres (Saadoun, 2017). Por lo tanto, el descubrimiento de petróleo sirve como foco principal para este trabajo, ya que transformó radicalmente las realidades sociales y económicas del país. El descubrimiento del petróleo en la década de 1990 se convirtió en un importante punto de inflexión en Guinea Ecuatorial, y fue el impulso para la desigualdad económica masiva que impregna al país a través de las tres causas directas que se describirán en este trabajo: la falta de gastos y servicios para la salud y educación, los proyectos de infraestructura y las compañías petroleras estadounidenses. Las causas directas ilustradas en este trabajo son el resultado de una falta de responsabilidad del gobierno, y esta falta es un resultado directo de las instituciones antidemocráticas. Por último, las instituciones no inclusivas (como resultado de la falta de responsabilidad y democracia del gobierno) son el culpable principal por la desigualdad económica en Guinea Ecuatorial. Esta desigualdad económica se amplificó por la afluencia masiva de los ingresos del petróleo que creía efectivamente un estado rentista.

While it is unclear what will develop in the near future, it is imperative that the United States continues to enforce its sanctions and uphold its support for democracy and human rights. The United States should promote an end to attacks on political opposition and civil society, the elimination of repressive laws, transparent economic management, and election reform with meaningful national dialogue. Lastly, while the United States should strive to assist with the development of Zimbabwe, it cannot lose sight of the necessary conditions of good governance and respect for human rights.

Concurrent with China’s rapid economic growth over the past two decades has been China’s increasingly deep interest, investment, and relationship with the African continent. China has engaged in considerable trade with African countries and heavily financed development projects. China’s expanding geopolitical influence through the media, military involvement, and diplomatic engagement has introduced ubiquitous new realities on the continent, which the United States should investigate and address more actively. As economic and political ties have deepened between China and Africa, some in the West have become skeptical of China’s intentions and whether negative impacts will arise from Chinese engagement with Africa. On the contrary, many African governments and citizens openly welcome China’s involvement, a major reason being China’s ability to address the infrastructure gap. However, this situation is not purely dichotomous and thus a more nuanced approach is required to assess the potential outcomes for African countries and the United States.

This paper argues that stateness, as defined by “the capacity of the state to exercise its fundamental functions” and maintaining a monopoly on the use of force, is a major determinant of FDI inflows in SSA countries. Through using the independent variable of stateness, which will be qualified and measured using various indicators, and the dependent variable of foreign direct investment, net inflows (BoP, current US$), this paper will use data from five SSA countries (South Africa, Ghana, Tanzania, the Central African Republic, and Somalia) to demonstrate a correlation and causation from state capacity to FDI inflows. The years examined for data purposes are 2008 (sometimes earlier when necessary) until the most current year available in order to align with the 2008-2017 timeframe provided by the Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance. This paper will investigate five causal mechanisms of stateness, explain how they are functions of stateness and affect FDI inflows, and then correlate the data and statistics of the mechanisms with the respective countries’ data and statistics regarding FDI inflows. These results show that states with stronger state capacity receive higher FDI inflows, ultimately confirming the hypothesis that high levels of stateness correlate with high levels of FDI inflows (and the converse of low to low).

While Ghana and South Africa have stronger democracies compared to many countries on the African continent, Ghana has proven to have a more legitimate and fair democracy. Compiling the various factors of democracy shows that Ghana’s prospects for democratic support from all citizens are stronger than South Africa’s democratic future. By examining the greater role… Continue reading Ghana and South Africa: A Tale of Different Democracies →

The upcoming elections scheduled for December 23, 2018 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo face various challenges of security, logistics, and equal freedoms if the elections are to truly be free, fair, and credible.

In “The Ceremony,” Emmanuel Dongala examines the progression of distorted perceptions of a proletariat worker in a post-colonial central African Marxist state. Through this viewpoint, Dongala narrates the day of the ceremony commemorating the new director of the manure factory, a position the worker at first claims to be his goal, after having worked tirelessly… Continue reading A Loss of Self-Identity: Blind Loyalty to Party Ideology and the Acceptance of Political Corruption →