Keynote Address: Unlocking Africa’s Potential in a Time of Competition between Rising and Global Powers

Trade and investment are not just about money and prosperity. They also bring and support peace, stability, and security. In my book Unlocking Africa’s Business Potential, I explore key trade and investment trends, opportunities, challenges, and strategies that illustrate the tremendous potential of Africa and explain the complex competition between emerging and established powers on the continent. The following key trends are critical for policymaking, given their implications for trade investment, economic transformation, inclusive prosperity, and geopolitical dynamics in a time of competition between rising and global powers.https://ecommons.udayton.edu/global_voices_5/1006/thumbnail.jp

Explaining and Fixing the \u27Weak Governance Curse\u27 in Resource-Rich Least Developed Countries

There is a resource boom in the least developed countries, including those in Southern Africa. In order to translate their resource wealth into positive development outcomes in the long run, these countries need to have strong domestic governance systems. Yet, governance indicators in resource-rich LDCs have stagnated or deteriorated in the last decades. We use a new institutional analysis with a focus on path dependence theory to argue that these countries are caught in a “weak governance curse”. Besides having inherited dysfunctional governance paths from past critical junctures, rent-seeking behavior associated with resource rents constitutes a major contemporary political economy obstacle to successful governance reform in these countries. Although these dysfunctional governance systems have become extremely resilient to change, we build a theoretical case as to why global regulatory mechanisms can serve as potential tools to provoke gradual feedback effects to disrupt this negative equilibrium

Explaining and Fixing the \u27Weak Governance Curse\u27 in Resource-Rich Least Developed Countries

There is a resource boom in the least developed countries, including those in Southern Africa. In order to translate their resource wealth into positive development outcomes in the long run, these countries need to have strong domestic governance systems. Yet, governance indicators in resource-rich LDCs have stagnated or deteriorated in the last decades. We use a new institutional analysis with a focus on path dependence theory to argue that these countries are caught in a “weak governance curse”. Besides having inherited dysfunctional governance paths from past critical junctures, rent-seeking behavior associated with resource rents constitutes a major contemporary political economy obstacle to successful governance reform in these countries. Although these dysfunctional governance systems have become extremely resilient to change, we build a theoretical case as to why global regulatory mechanisms can serve as potential tools to provoke gradual feedback effects to disrupt this negative equilibrium

Foresight Africa: Top Priorities for the Continent 2020-2030

The new year 2020 marks the beginning of a promising decade for Africa. Through at least the first half of the decade, economic growth across Africa will continue to outperform that of other regions, with the continent continuing to be home to seven of the world's 10 fastest-growing economies. Collective action among African and global policymakers to improve the livelihoods of all under the blueprint of the Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union's Agenda 2063 is representative of the shared energy and excitement around Africa's potential. With business environments improving, regional integration centered around the African Continental Free Trade Agreement progressing, and the transformational technologies of Fourth Industrial Revolution spreading, never before has the region been better primed for trade, investment, and mutually beneficial partnerships. The recent, unprecedented interest of an increasingly diversified group of external partners for engagement with Africa highlights this potential. Despite the continent's promise, though, obstacles to success linger, as job creation still has not caught up with the growing youth labor force, gaps in good and inclusive governance remain, and climate change as well as state fragility threaten to reverse the hard-fought-for gains of recent decades.This special edition of Foresight Africa highlights the triumphs of past years as well as strategies from our experts to tackle forthcoming, but surmountable, obstacles to a prosperous continent by 2030

Intérêts, stratégies des acteurs et innovation en politiques de développement en Afrique

Les intérêts sont des variables incontournables pour la compréhension des phénomènes politiques en Afrique. Peu d’auteurs ont cependant proposé un cadre systématique permettant de comprendre le mécanisme à travers lequel cette variable façonne le jeu politique en Afrique. Comment et quand les intérêts (variables stratégiques) permettent-ils d’expliquer les processus d’émergence des politiques et des stratégies de développement sur ce continent ? Cet article propose une contribution originale en faisant le point théorique sur la question et analysant de manière empirique le rôle joué par les intérêts et les stratégies des dirigeants africains dans leurs relations avec les institutions financières internationales dans le processus d’émergence des stratégies de développement, notamment des plans d’ajustement structurel (années 1980 et 1990) et des documents stratégiques pour la réduction de la pauvreté (années 2000 et 2010). Les cas empiriques du Mali et du Togo servent d’illustration aux mécanismes présentés, relatifs particulièrement à l’articulation des intérêts et des stratégies des acteurs aux paradigmes économiques et aux contextes temporels dans l’orientation et la configuration de l’émergence et de la forme des innovations en matière de stratégies de développement en Afrique.Interests are crucial to understanding political phenomena in Africa, but only a few authors have offered systematic analytic frameworks for explaining how these variables operate and shape the political manoeuvres in Africa. How and when do interests (strategic variables) explain the process by which development policies and strategies emerge in that continent? This article proposes an original contribution to the literature by assessing the theoretical aspects of the question and by empirically analyzing the role played by African leaders’ interests and strategies in their relations with international financial institutions in the emergence of development strategies – in particular structural adjustment plans ([SAPs] through the 1980s and 1990s) and poverty reduction strategy papers ([PRSPs] through the 2000s and 2010s). The empirical cases of Mali and Togo will serve to illustrate the mechanisms presented, notably those regarding how actors’ interests and strategies are linked to economic paradigms and temporal contexts to guide and shape the emergence and forms of development strategy innovations in Africa

Foresight Africa: Top priorities for the continent in 2019

n this year's Foresight Africa, AGI scholars and invited experts illuminate the priorities of the continent in 2019, delving into six overarching themes with recommendations for tackling the challenges that lie ahead. This unprecedented dynamism of the continent is creating opportunities for trade and investment and is drawing interest from an increasingly diverse group of external partners. Democracy is consolidating, although the prevalence of tensions and, in some countries, violence during elections point to areas for improvement. The demographic tidal wave looms closer, and job creation has not yet been able to catch up. Despite continued progress on governance, more efforts are needed to eradicate corruption and to elevate the voice of women and young people in the decisionmaking.Africa is brimming with promise and, in some places, peril. With its array of contributions, this year's edition reflects both the diversity of the continent and the common threads that bind it together. With that aim, we hope to promote and inform a dialogue that will generate sound practical strategies for achieving shared prosperity across the continent