the effect on the heterogeneity of populations, ‘Former colonies with a high share of partitioned peoples do worse today on democracy, government service delivery, rule of law and corruption 9 . The second effect is the relationship between straight line borders, decreased democracy and increased social ills. Straight line borders perfectly illustrate an imposed rule rather than organic, free growth geographically, economically and politically. Easterly observes ‘The straight hand of the colonial mapmaker is discernible in outcomes decades later’. 10
Conclusion
Where to go from here? For too long Africa’s development has been blocked by predatory politics, whether it be colonial powers, rebel leaders or politicians that choose to forgo economic growth in exchange for private gain. African governments must work to stop this. One way in which they can do this is weaning themselves off aid and limiting foreign influence over their policies. Internal change is also necessary, African governments are husks of what they need to be. Internal reform targeting corruption and strengthening democracy will improve this. The IMF and World Bank also have a responsibility – infant industries must be offered some protection from globalization initially. Sustainable resource management and an end to conflict are both more likely given these changes. Western firms and governments need to accept responsibility for quashing corruption and conflict and hopefully begin to consider Africa’s needs as well as their own.
Bibliography
‘Dead Aid’ by Dambisa Moyo (2009) ‘The White Man’s Burden’ by William Easterly (2006) ‘The Bottom Billion’ by Paul Collier (2007) ‘False Economy’ by Alan Beattie (2009) ‘The State of Africa’ by Martin Meredith (2005) ‘Economics: The User’s Guide’ by Ha-Joon Chang (2014) ‘The Shock Doctrine’ by Naomi Klein (2007)
‘Democracy and the ‘Washington Consensus’ by John Williamson (1989) http://www.visionaryvalues.com/wiki/images/Williamson_DemocracyandWashingtonConsensus.pdf ‘Civil War, Destruction and the Prospects for Economic Growth’ by Seunjou Kang and James Meerkik (2007) - http://www.jstor.org/stable/3449706 ‘Artificial States’ by Alberto Alesina, William Easterly and Janina Matuszeski (February 2006) http://www.nber.org/papers/w12328 ‘Africa must get real about Chinese ties’ Financial Times (2013) http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/562692b0-898c-11e2-ad3f- 00144feabdc0.html?siteedition=uk#axzz3BgWhj3LC ‘British government policy in sub-Saharan Africa under New Labour’ by Tom Porteous (2007) http://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/files/chathamhouse/public/International%20Affairs/ Blanket%20File%20Import/inta_450.pdf ‘Africa must get real about Chinese ties’ Financial Times (2013) ‘The IMF and Aid to Sub ‑ Saharan Africa’ by Joanne Salop et al (2007) http://www.imf.org/external/np/ieo/2007/ssa/eng/pdf/report.pdf. ‘AFRICOM: Wrong for Liberia, Disastrous for Africa’ by Emira Woods and Ezekiel Pajibo (2007) http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/562692b0-898c-11e2-ad3f- 00144feabdc0.html?siteedition=uk#axzz3BgWhj3LC
http://fpif.org/africom_wrong_for_liberia_disastrous_for_africa/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_African_countries_by_population http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Genocide
http://www.doingbusiness.org/rankings http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botswana http://data.worldbank.org/topic/poverty
9 ‘The White Man’s Burden’ by William Easterly (2006) p257 10 ‘The White Man’s Burden’ by William Easterly (2006) p257
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