An Approach to the Regional Neoliberal Governance in Southern Africa from a Critical Perspective

South Africa needs to become more civil and modern since they don't have any strong enforcing leaders and they don't have much technology compared to the modern country. ”the french supported a policy

Modern African states have various problems ranging from corruption, to armed conflict, to stunted structural development. Africa’s ongoing political instability and economic crisis have hindered the improvement of Africa. Thus, the lack of money, advancement in technology, and climate has hampered economic development. Despite European mistreatment and oppression African’s have endured hardships that have encouraged economy, education, and political

Europe wanted Africa for their raw materials, the major source of wealth was the rich mineral resources.

It therefore also remains questionable whether or not neoliberalism is such a negative development at all. In the absence of alternative histories it is always easy to blame all the problems of the present on certain political courses, while neglecting the good developments it has brought to the country. Unfortunately, a thorough theoretical discussion on neoliberalism has been outside the scope of our paper. But whether or not neoliberalism becomes to be seen in a more positive light is ultimately dependent on the economic development of South Africa, something to which the future will provide us an answer

Professor Magagna outlines a number of problems of the post-colonial development of Africa between the 1960s and the 1980s that Robert Bates also touches upon. Many of the African colonial states provided post colonial elites with the majority of the power and interventionist capabilities. This gave the elite in power the capability of intervening in and shaping economic development alongside successes and failures. Bates argues that these elites in power, who have

“South Africa cannot escape its African destiny. If we do not devote our energies to this continent, we too could fall victim to the forces that have brought ruin to its various parts” (Mandela, 1993: 89). The South African government, after the apartheid regime, made African issues one of the pillars of its foreign policy. The government committed itself to Africa because of various reasons, however, the most obvious reason is that the country wants to show loyalty to African States who played a hand in the liberation struggle. The areas of engagement South Africa has set out for itself in the Africa-mission are the following: “the encouragement of cultural exchange; the emancipation of African women from

When an individual has got lot of resources, they are usually wealthy. This might be true for most but not for Africa. Africa is said to be the richest continent in the world when in terms of natural resources (Ebegubulem, 2012). Yet it is the poorest according to the nominal Gross Domestic Product calculation (Mannak,2008). That is why I agree with Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf”s statement that she made at the Nelson Mandela annual lecture in 2008, which reads: “Africa is not poor, it is poorly managed”. It is seen that Africa is wealthy yet it is encountering low levels of economic growth as it is not developing. Is it because of power? As Africa is one of the continents which suffered greatly from the independence of its land, which was under the

According to Democratic Peace Theory, nations that are democracies do not engage with each other in direct conflict. The trade relations, democratic norms and values deter any kind of direct violence between nation states. Conflict is redirected from the battlefield to political spheres where participatory polities allow citizens to have a voice, as well as economic markets, to provide gainful employment and trade between individuals and societies. However, efforts at post-conflict reconstruction too often exchange cessation of direct violence for economic violence - through income inequality, exploitation and oppression. Governments need to carefully plan out economic policies to avoid a “second conflict”. This paper will examine South Africa as a case study to look at the transition from racial segregation and discrimination to economic isolation and marginalization. Actors that shape and influence this transitory phase include the World Bank, the IMF, local politicians, foreign investors and of course, the people.

INTRODUCTIONBackground Sub-Saharan Africa continues to present the world with its most formidable developmentchallenge. During the last two decades the number of the poor in Africa has doubled from150 million to 300 million, more than 40 percent of the region’s population. About one thirdof the region’s population lives in countries affected by or emerging from conflict. Moreover,HIV/AIDS continues to threaten African lives and livelihoods. Africa is the only region thatremains behind on most of the MDGs. On current trends it will fall far short of meeting the2015 targets, (The World Bank, 2005).Africa has come a long way in its efforts to achieve sustainable development. Lessons of thecontinent’s development over the last two decades consistently highlighted the need for moreintensive efforts to effectively address some of its major development constraints. Acombination of ineffective policies, outright mismanagement (in some countries), heavyexternal debt burden, poor governance, and conflicts precipitated the massive economicdecline in the early 1980s. The recovery in the latter half of the decade was partly due tomajor economic policy reforms as well as growing socio-political pluralism and economicstability, which were consolidated in the decade of the 1990s. Yet, much still remains to bedone, as the African continent entered the 21st century faced with numerous developmentchallenges. Some of these challenges

Africa has in fact in its midst a hard core of bourgeoisie who are analogous to colonists and settlers in that they live in positions of privilege-a small, selfish, money-minded reactionary minority among vast masses of exploited and oppressed people. . . Their survival depends on foreign support (Class 12)

The aftermath of colonial rule on Sub-saharan Africans has been debilitating. It is present in the statistics, cultural changes, politics, and the historical unrest in the post-colonial state. European colonists concentrated on the export of Africa’s resources, production of cash crops, and profit gained by displacement of ethnic groups, with no focus on African development. In fact, the complete disregard for African nations lead to modern day dependency on foreign economy, hindering Africa even in its emerging independence. W.O. Maloba explains, “Economically, colonialism had linked Africa tightly to the world capitalist system dominated by Europe and later the USA. African countries, it needs to be repeated, produced raw materials and imported selected manufactured goods – each largely determined by Colonial Capitalism” (Decolonization 8). Post-colonization did not lead to complete independence for many countries, including Kenya, but a new form from within: Neocolonialism, which carries the power of colonialism under “Kenyan” rule. On independence and exploitation, Maloba continues, “the inherited economical institutions in many countries do not have the capacity to lead to sustained growth development. They were established to exploit and not develop these countries” (Decolonization 13). Colonialism, though short-lived, entrenched Africa into underdevelopment.

I discuss below major developmental challenges in Africa (by extension other poor countries) which have roots in contemporary imperial relations with the West. These include: debt burdens, structural adjustment programmes, operations of multinational corporations and external aid.

In Chapter three Rodney focuses on the colonial period in which Africa helped develop the capitalist progression in Europe. “Colonialism was not merely a system of exploitation but one whose essential purpose was to repatriate the profit to the so called mother land,” states Rodney. Chapter four gives an historical background of Africa in 1885 and emphasizes on the value that came from the enslavement of Africans. This time period holds a major significance to the underdevelopment of Africa because of the Berlin conference. Africa was then divided up due to the scramble in which Europeans fought over power. The fifth chapter argues that colonialism was the main factor in underveloping Africa as a whole. Rodney argues that colonialism only did one thing, and that was steal Africa’s resources and strip them of their land. Europeans took so much from the Africans and made sure to give nothing back which explains the type of relationship they had. In chapter six, Rodney argues against past scholars who believed that colonialism had valuable outcomes in the end. The author shows how the economic and political state Africa was left robbed due to colonialism, he then provides strategies to fight against the underdevelopment.

In this book, James Ferguson explores how Africa fares in the neoliberal world. He considers the whole continent but focuses on selected examples that shed light on how the current world order has impacted the continent and its people. Through eight essays, he explores paradoxes of African states and governments; the continent 's place in the new world order, modernity and development; and the “modernization” of mineral and oil extraction models. This set of disjointed essays examine the realities that continue to determine development and growth on the African continent.

This essays main focus will be discussing the main ideologies and focuses of the two leading political parties of South Africa. The African National Congress or ANC and the Democratic Alliance also known as DA. An important insight into both their ideology will be gained by analysing how both parties political powers are reflected in the economic sector and society and to which extend their ideologies effect both of these