Economic Networking—Exploring Alternatives for Promoting Sustainable Development in Africa

strengthening of the global partnership for development. Buffeted by economic forces outside their control, smaller economies

In the second half of the twentieth-century, African countries were able to gain their independence and strive to create unified countries. However, many countries were plagued with civil wars and the issues left behind the colonial era. The adversities faced by these new African nations are at the hands of their old colonial powers and the neo-colonialism that has taken place. These new independent countries were left to unify their people of different backgrounds, create a strong government and economy, and leave the post-colonial legacy behind.

Whilst raising money for African charities at school I developed an interest in global inequality and alternative policies that can help low-income nations escape the poverty trap. Reading ’23 Things’ by Ha-Joon Chang, I was intrigued by his view on blaming free-market policies like SAPs that exposed sub-Saharan Africa to international competition, slowing economic growth. Hence, this extended my research to the other side of the

For many years, the U.S. has cut back on its promised obligations and responsibilities to help the cause of development aid. Between 1990 and 1993, U.S. exports to developed countries grew by 6.2%. In contrast, during that same period, U.S. exports to developing countries grew by a remarkable 49.8%, yielding 46 billion dollars more and 920,000 jobs in the United States (Atwood). Assistance cuts hurt America’s

Every year sub-Saharan Africa receives around $134bn in loans, foreign investment and development aid, according to the UN. Nonetheless, sub-Saharan Africa is still the poorest region in the world. For many years the international community has debated over the reasons why every year billion and billions of dollars are not taking sub-Saharan Africans out of poverty. Three major groups have prevailed in the discussion. First, the people who totally blame Africa for not doing its job right, completely forgetting that most of the funds are not administrated by Africans. Second, the people who believe that even though aids are not working, the international community should keep investing funds in Africa even if is failing; one day they will work.

Africa has become aid dependent in the sense that “few of its states can carry and routine functions or deliver basic public services without external funding and expertise”(Goldsmith, Foreign Aid and Statehood in Africa). Foreign aid is meant to be used as a means of creating the infrastructure and institutions to carry out the functions of a nation. African nations have become so used to foreigners providing many basic functions and necessities of their people they do not feel the need to provide it themselves. This thinking has allowed for unneeded increases of foreign aid because of the lack of progress made by Africa with the current spending. Western nations have done little to nothing to give African nations incentives to use the foreign aid in an effective manner so that less and less foreign aid has to be provided to

Africa is the second largest continent in the world in terms of area and population after Asia. Because of European colonialism, the exploitation of its resources, the practice of apartheid and the policy of prejudice, the Organization of the African Union was established and linked to all African countries. The concept of the African Union is a special organization to resolve all African problems, issues and crises. The African Union consists of 30 countries, established in 1936. In 1980, the membership rose to 53. The Organization of African Unity has been named .The headquarters of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) is located in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia So that the African continent can take international decisions and the elimination of political, economic, technical and cultural problems. New African States have the right to organize for the Organization, but subject to the approval of members, upon the withdrawal of any State from the Organization, the request for

The process of decolonization in Africa was a long and tedious battle between the imperial powers and the Africans. After World War II ended there were an independence movements around the world, especially in Africa. Africans were determined and motivated to gain back their independence after being under European rule for years. During this period of decolonization in Africa there was an emergence of nationalism among the African people. This time is history is considered the second wave of African Nationalism. The African people had the desire to win back their independence and had the self-determination to governor themselves. African leaders such as, Jomo Kenyatta, Kwame Nkrumah, and Julius Nyerer gained tremendous support and a following in the fight for freedom. Decolonization for some countries came relatively peacefully, such as Nigeria and Ghana. Unfortunately for another countries it was a bloody battle for them to achieve their independence, such as Algeria, Mozambique, Angola, Kenya, and South Africa. The ideology of Africa being an independent continent was a wide spread desire for the people of Africa. They were willing to go to any length to achieve freedom and change. The African people felt they had nothing else to loose, since everything was already taken from them when the imperial powers colonized their countries.

The sustainability of Africa in her ancient existence is not debatable as her subjects flourished in joy, happiness, unity and stability characterized with political stability, economic growth, and social stability; her subjects were Africa traditional religion conscious as they patronized spiritualism keened to the Africa culture. Africa in ancient times experienced orderliness in all her spheres as the hierarchical status of societal personnels was regarded, respected and honoured by the subjects. Furthermore, the ancient Africa entity was in possession of unique and numerous natural and mineral resources that aided her sustainable living. They had immense manpower, technocrats, artists, business tycoons as well as traditional herbs that

In an article published by The Spectator entitled “Why foreign aid fails – and how to really help Africa,” Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson condemn the current system of foreign aid granting and suggest an alternate, more efficient solution. They support their points by deducing that “extractive institutions,” in which incentives for economic prosperity are few, are the culprit of enduring poverty; by providing examples where foreign aid failed to reduce poverty (Congo, Angola, Syria, and South Africa); by giving testimonies from former British Prime Minister David Cameron and multilateral institutions concerning the effectiveness of foreign aid; and by advising an alternative solution to combating poverty, involving diplomatic relations

As First World countries, we have developed a way of thinking that says because we are more developed, we now hold all the knowledge necessary to turn a developing country into a developed country. The failure of foreign aid proves this statement to be false. In a majority of cases where aid is given to developing countries, it simply does not work. They are still in the same situation, if not worse, then they were before they received aid. Foreign aid is a failure for three reasons: the aid does not reach the appropriate people, the aid does not always fix the situation in the long-run, and the aid creates a dependence on both the donor country and the aid itself. We have the capability and the desire to be of enormous assistance to the developing countries. The way we go about giving the foreign aid determines whether it will ultimately succeed or fail.

The organization of the African union (OAU) was established in May 1963 in Addis Ababa on the signature of the OAU Charter by representatives of 32 governments. A further 21 states have joined gradually over the years, with South Africa becoming the 53rd member on 23 May 1994.

All human beings regardless of their background require a set of resources to survive. These are food, water, shelter and clothing in addition to this, healthcare, education and sanitation are also essential for a person’s wellbeing. In 1949 Truman’s Inaugural Address “we must embark on a bold new program for making the benefits of our scientific advances and industrial progress available for the improvement and growth of underdeveloped areas” raised awareness of the fundamental belief that countries that are far more developed should be assisting underdeveloped countries to improve their living standards. Aid is the giving of money, goods and advice by one country to another. The principle of giving and supporting others through “foreign aid” blossomed during the 1960’s, technological advances provided opportunities for televised reporting in the United States of inhumane situations in other “underdeveloped” countries. The idea of tackling poverty took hold and the UN and Bretton Woods Institutions (originally formed for post-war reconstruction) became mechanisms for action on development.

Space constraints will not allow for a complete overview of the vast literature on northern aid policies towards Africa in general. As such, this literature is heavily focused on trends in aid quality and quantity, as it relates to the Cameroonian question (Lumsdaine 1993; Therien 2000; OECD annual Development Cooperation reports). There is also a strong emphasis on the evolution of aid policy in the wake of particular events e.g. the end of the Cold war (Cumming 2001; Lancaster 1999), 9/11(Macrae 2005; Howell 2010), the Arab Spring (Frot 2012; Independent Commission for Aid Impact Report 2013) or particular development strategies such as structural adjustment (Wilson 1993; Wuyts 1995) or good governance as it relates to the disbursement of aid (Crawford 1996; Epstein 2008). More specifically, Van Dijk (2009) underlines the increasing activities of the Chinese in Africa. Zahariadis et al. (2000) highlight the limited involvement of America on the African continent, in particular in East Africa. Those studies, when taken together, link directly to the hypothesis of the thesis which focuses on France’s post independence behaviour, and the way in which it contrasts with the aid behaviour or its global peers. French policy makers make decisions and policy that dictate the way in which aid is disbursed, should result in change in instruments used, and the aid tends seen on the ground. However, literature indicates that it often fails to follow the logical, or indicate, pattern.

Its origins are the Coalition of African States, an main confederation that was instituted by Kwame Nkrumah in the 1960s, as well as consecutive endeavors to fuse Africa, encompassing the Organisation of African Harmony (OAU), that was instituted on May 25, 1963, and the African Commercial Area in 1981. Criticizers clashed that the OAU in particular did slight to protect the entitlements and liberties of African residents from their own governmental heads, frequently dubbing it the "Dictators ' Club".