The Student Room Group

Africa-The past, the present and the future

I know this may not be the time cos of the whole Isreal Palestine thing and the debate we should be having about the state of western media buuut.... anyone wanna have an intelligent debate about the state of the african Economy and its prospects given the politics :smile:?
Africa is a continent with lots of different countries with very different political and economic situations. Many African countries have had brutal civil wars in the past. Some still have ongoing conflicts. Some have lots of natural resources but are among the poorest countries on the continent. Some have been stable and have had good economic growth.

It's a bit hard to discuss this, because the answers are different for the many different countries in Africa.
Reply 2
Original post by RFowler
Africa is a continent with lots of different countries with very different political and economic situations. Many African countries have had brutal civil wars in the past. Some still have ongoing conflicts. Some have lots of natural resources but are among the poorest countries on the continent. Some have been stable and have had good economic growth.

It's a bit hard to discuss this, because the answers are different for the many different countries in Africa.

I agree that there are many countries in africa all of which face different challenges. However i dont think that makes it hard to discuss the challenges generally faced by most african countries. There are issues like poverty, corruption, political violence, the lack of inter african trade, terrible infrustructure and maladministration which persist in most african countries and in that respect there is scope with which to discuss Africa's challenges as a Continent.
Obama just had a three-day U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington, D.C.( seems the US could not find a single nation in Africa willing to host Obama's Africom.)
Melvin Foote, founder of the Constituency for Africa who promote African interests in Washington, sai "..it was disingenuous for the White House to claim the summit was not in large part a respense to China."

China have been building roads, ports, schools, airports and railroads. The US aid over the past few decades has gone to corruption:tongue:roping up authoritarian dictators and not been felt by the people.
China's trade with Africa last year was $200 billion, double that of the US.

It is past time for these 'Free Trade' scams to be exposed for what they are, viz, the total opposite of Free Trade, which is tariffs and state protectionism.

Sadly, Africa in the main is a complex dictator/military mess, and rich, easy, mineral pickings for the more developed countries and no-one to protect its vulnerabilities.
Reply 4
Original post by reciproversexclu
Obama just had a three-day U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington, D.C.( seems the US could not find a single nation in Africa willing to host Obama's Africom.)
Melvin Foote, founder of the Constituency for Africa who promote African interests in Washington, sai "..it was disingenuous for the White House to claim the summit was not in large part a respense to China."

China have been building roads, ports, schools, airports and railroads. The US aid over the past few decades has gone to corruption:tongue:roping up authoritarian dictators and not been felt by the people.
China's trade with Africa last year was $200 billion, double that of the US.

It is past time for these 'Free Trade' scams to be exposed for what they are, viz, the total opposite of Free Trade, which is tariffs and state protectionism.

Sadly, Africa in the main is a complex dictator/military mess, and rich, easy, mineral pickings for the more developed countries and no-one to protect its vulnerabilities.


Insightful commentary, I agree with you in denouncing the summit as disingenuous on the part of the US. If there is one country which cares little for Africa's development it would have to be the US, over the last 50 yrs US intervention has served to corrupt African leaders and politics while their economics have impoverished the continent with many economists like Columbia's Jeffrey Sachs citing it as the chief obstical to Africa's development. This is not to say that China is our savior though, they too look out chiefly for their own interest. it is true that they build roads and schools, but their projects are usually of a much lower quality than promised. even worse most chinese firms do no hire african workers and bring thier own armies of workers, thus do not contribute to local employment.
Your final outlook is far too cynical. Though i do agree that in many african countries the current situation is bleak, i think the future will be much brighter. African leaders are becoming younger and better exposed, and the african population is becoming significantly better educated and informed. I think this will gradually lead to genuine democratisation, clearing up issues of corruption and instability and leading to sustained long term economic growth and development.
Reply 5
Sub-Saharan Africa is making slow progress with some stellar candidates like Angola. With that being said there's a lot of corruption, lawlessness (something business hates) and general instability. Large economies also have problems, Nigeria has a terrorist problem in the North while South Africa is too socialist and being harmed by the unions.

Despite being Islamic, some countries in North Africa like Morocco and Tunisia have good prospects.
Reply 6
Original post by Rakas21
Sub-Saharan Africa is making slow progress with some stellar candidates like Angola. With that being said there's a lot of corruption, lawlessness (something business hates) and general instability. Large economies also have problems, Nigeria has a terrorist problem in the North while South Africa is too socialist and being harmed by the unions.

Despite being Islamic, some countries in North Africa like Morocco and Tunisia have good prospects.

To be fair North Africa has its own problems, theres basically a civil war in Libya now thanks to the Euro-American intervention that toppled Gaddafi and Egypt and Tunisia are hardly stable.
I also wouldn't call Angola stellar example, the growth there is mainly based on oil and the government is ridiculously corrupt. But I do agree that Africa is making progress, the main challenge is certainly the corruption and lawlessness(which is wildly exaggerated in the west). I dont agree that the problem with south Africa is socialism, In my opinion the challenge they face is massive inequality. You have about 20 percent of the population living a Western quality of life, while the bottom 80 percent live in dire poverty, very little middle class- this will always lead to instability, crime and conflict, its unsustainable. Ironically i think while the world diagnoses South Africa with socialism, the solution to their problem is actually wealth redistribution to correct the imbalances of Apartheid and the corruption that followed it.
Africa is going to be the next big thing. They have consistent population growth and huge investment on infrastructure from china. If china keeps up on pouring money in and nothing to halt the population growth in 20-30 years time africa can become the world largest economy.

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