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Legacies of Colonialism or Neo-Colonialism

Legacies of Colonialism or Neo-Colonialism . Structural Legacies --Economies based on raw material exports --Aid/dependency --Migrant labor/labor compounds Cultural Legacies --Public Health/concern with African bodies --Education/educational diaspora

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Legacies of Colonialism or Neo-Colonialism

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  1. Legacies of ColonialismorNeo-Colonialism

  2. Structural Legacies --Economies based on raw material exports --Aid/dependency --Migrant labor/labor compounds • Cultural Legacies --Public Health/concern with African bodies --Education/educational diaspora --Tension between “tradition” and “modernity”

  3. Debt and Structural Adjustment

  4. Origins of African Debt • For some countries (Ghana, for example), debt began with ambitious development projects in the 1960s • In most cases, however, serious indebtedness began in the early 1970s • Oil crisis dramatically increased the price of imports • Worldwide recession decreased the willingness of the US and former colonial powers to distribute aid in grants

  5. World prices for exports (especially agricultural exports) fell • The public sector grew, especially with increased bureaucracy (in Ghana, for example, by 150 percent between 1957 and 1979) • Between 1970 and 1976, Africa’s public debt quadrupled

  6. State Contraction in the 1980s • Debt servicing began to take a substantial portion of many countries’ GDPs • Ambitious development plans were largely scrapped • Governments tended to focus on maintaining power and preserving order

  7. Structural Adjustment • Implemented by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank beginning in roughly 1981 • Required substantial cuts in state services • Tended to promote industrialization as a path to economic growth • Often involved the devaluation of currency

  8. Debt, Structural Adjustment and Legitimacy • The demands of debt and structural adjustment often rendered governments less able to supply the needs of their people and less able to claim grassroots legitimacy • Debt seen as attached to a country, not to a particular government—transferred even when a government was deemed illegitimate

  9. International Aid • Since the 1970s, the general trend has been a decrease in aid to Africa—monetary aid fell by almost half in the 1990s • A large proportion of what is counted as aid by donor countries is known “phantom aid”—for example, some 50% of all technical assistance is said to be wasted because of inappropriate usage on expensive consultants, their living expenses, and training • Aid frequently carries restrictions with regard to its use

  10. Aid Donors • Most donor countries use aid as part of a broader foreign policy focused on “national interests” • The US has directed aid to regions where it has concerns related to its national security, e.g. Middle East • Sweden has targeted aid to “progressive societies” • France has sought to promote maintenance or preserve and spread of French culture, language, and influence, especially in West Africa, while disproportionately giving aid to those that have extensive commercial ties with France

  11. Trade Imbalance • Many aid packages require receiving countries to purchase goods from the donor country, often in a way that disadvantages the economy of the recipient • Reports have suggested that aid tied with conditions cut the value of aid to recipient countries by some 25-40 percent, because it obliges them to purchase imports from the richer nations at uncompetitive prices • As of 2000, over two-thirds of United States aid was tied to requirements to purchase goods and services from the US • Aid generally fails to increase the export side of receiving countries’ economies

  12. Recent Improvements • Given the relative success of NGOs in small-scale poverty alleviation and the failure of government aid to achieve comparable results, a shift has begun towards more grassroots projects • Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and Great Britain have “untied” their aid from trade agreements

  13. AIDS in Africa • Data suggests AIDS began in Africa in the late 1970s, spreading south from equatorial areas over the 1980s • Southern Africa has been hit particularly hard by the AIDS epidemic—Botswana has approx. 38% of the adult population infected • Uganda is often cited as a model for the control of AIDS—percentage of the population infected has dropped to 5% from a high of 14%

  14. The Paradox of Botswana • Botswana has maintained a stable, democratic government since 1965 • The country’s diamond resources and strong beef industry have produced a middle-class standard of living for many residents • Even as Botswana thrives, however, it has the second highest rate of HIV infection in Africa (after Swaziland)—over 1/3 of people between the ages of 15 and 49 are infected

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