The new scramble for Africa | The Economist

the first Scramble for Africa was when European colonial powers saw a continent that was vast rich in minerals and land and very poorly defended and they rushed in to carve it up and steal the land the second was during the Cold War when East and West were locked in a struggle for global domination that's when the Soviet Union backed Marxist despots all over Africa and the Americans back to any leader who said that he was in favor of capitalism the third wave which is happening right now is much more benign it's much more about voluntary exchange about trade and about the spread of technology it's a new kind of Scramble for Africa which if handled well Africans can win the old stereotype of foreigners in Africa is that they're only interested in the minerals and not Africa's people that still sometimes true and there are still a lot of corrupt mineral deals going on in Africa but much more important now is African people there'll be more Africans in the world than Chinese people by 2025 it's a huge market and since they're all living in independent countries they're in a much better position than in the past to negotiate better deals with the outside world and this has been great for Africans greater openness to trade an investment from the outside world is one of the reasons why Africans two fifths richer than they were in 2000 of course the fact that there are fewer Wars and better macroeconomic policies has also helped there's still a big problem with corruption unaccountable leaders in the less transparent African countries can often sign deals with outsiders that benefit them personally but perhaps not their country so much the things that Russia's doing in the Central African Republic where you have private firms protecting diamond mines and the president of that war-torn country are too many people reminiscent of what happened in the 19th century at the height of imperialism the scale of foreign interest is unprecedented between 2010 and 2016 320 new embassies were opened in Africa probably the largest embassy building boom anywhere ever turkey alone opened 26 last year India announced it was going to open 18 military links are spreading to China alone has ties with 45 African countries America and France are helping defeat terrorists in the Sahel oil rich Arab nations are setting up military bases in the Gulf and Russia has military deals with 19 African countries African voters and watchdog's need to insist on more transparency in the way that these deals have done the kind of work that Kenyan journalists have done to expose scandals connected to a Chinese railway project is very encouraging second African leaders need to think more strategically China is one country Africa's 54 it's going to be much harder for them to drive the right kind of bargains if they let China negotiate with them individually behind closed doors even if African unity is a bit of a far-off dream at the moment at least you could see more regional unity which would be very useful in negotiating infrastructure projects [Music] finally Africans should take what some of their new friends tell them with a pinch of salt the Chinese government is very keen to tell Africans that democracy is a Western idea and that development needs a firm hand this may be music to the ears of some of the strongmen on the continent but African voters should not be fooled by it there's a lot of research out there suggesting that the African countries that are more democratic tend to grow faster and prosper better as the population gets more educated and moves into the cities more we're seeing that they're more critical of governments and giving the ruling party a lower share of the vote as African politics grows more competitive voters will have more clout and they'll be able to insist on a form of globalization that works for Africans and foreigners alike

Channel: The Economist

Views: 267,123

Rating: 4.6714697 out of 5

Keywords: The Economist, Economist, Economist Films, Economist Videos, Politics, News, short-documentary, africa, investment in africa, foreign interest in africa, foreign investment, foreign direct investment in africa, the new scramble for africa, the scramble for africa, new scramble for africa

Id: BV61lqlLnds

Length: 4min 10sec (250 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 08 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/technosaur]

Wow! An honest admission of how Western colonialism stole African resources, and then the cold war between capitalist west and communist east used Africa as a battleground. Shame, shame.

And very fair, realistic, honest suggestions as to how Africas can finally win and raise the living standard of African people. I recommend this 4-minute to any and all Africans and foreigners wanting to do fair, successful trade/business with modern African.

[u/nabilvirani]

Interesting video

[u/AwHellNaw]

The economist is good mag but its absolute trash when reporting on Africa.