WSJ: The New Scramble for Africa
We need to talk about Africa. With major wars raging in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, increased Chinese and Russian activity, jihadi terrorists gaining ground in many places, and American foreign aid on the chopping block, the failed U.S. policy in Africa is past due for some new thinking.
To think clearly about Africa, we have to discard some accumulated nonsense and illusions that get in the way. To begin, we must drop the myth, endlessly promoted by the NGO-industrial complex of consultants and activists, that the struggle between democracy and dictatorship defines the continent’s politics. If only this were true. In reality, democracy has essentially collapsed in much of Africa. According to Freedom House, only 8% of Africans live in countries that can be called “free.” There are no signs that this trend is going to reverse.
The idea that economic potential makes Africa a continent of the future that we neglect at our peril is deeply misguided. Africa has grown economically, and that growth will continue. Should Africa ever realize its potential, Americans will pay it more attention. But until that happens, Africa’s hypothetical future riches will command little attention from the American public. As it is, Africa’s economic importance to the rest of the world revolves around its mineral resources and commodity production. That was true 100 years ago and will likely be true for some time.
What are the real issues we need to consider? The first is the power vacuum. In 1884-85, 13 European nations and the U.S. met in Berlin to set up rules to govern what contemporaries called the “scramble for Africa.” Decolonization in the 1950s and 1960s brought formal independence to most of Africa, but European influence (supplemented in places by American power) remained dominant for decades.