Africa and Emerging Flexibility in the Geopolitical Economic Infrastructure

Africa - Epicentre of Geopolitical/Geoeconomic Battle/Rivalry/Struggle

Introduction

Geographically African continent seats comfortably at the centre of the world. This centrality is part of its attractiveness and enduring interest of outsiders from antiquity. Abundant human and material resources from Africa built Europe and North America; these almost infinite resources continue to drive external geopolitical designs for continued odious exploitation. In the last 2 decades geopolitical and geoeconomic perceptions have started changing despite massive reactionary resistance. This change brings to a point where a timely review of the status quo and the emergence of new geopolitical economic infrastructures impacts on Africa.

Emerging Midfield

The biggest myopic geopolitical conclusion is that United States is on a free fall. Attention should rather focus on the reality that United States global economic dominance petered out in less than 3 decades ushering in new global economic competitors. This fact is the engine driving new geopolitical reconfigurations as the future progresses and with it the power structures. The time when Washington Consensus with its colossal arrowheads of World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) dominated multilateral funding and foreign investment in Africa is over. This is an important lesson not only for United States, her acolytes and clients; rather it is crucial for African leaders, African intelligentsia, African elite and African peoples.

New Geo-Economic Structures

The last 2 decades have opened up a new vista on the African economic space ushering in China in a bold move towards maintaining her internal security and control of power in Beijing through meeting tactical and strategic economic interests. The idea that Beijing presence in Africa is motivated by altruism is preposterous and displays intellectually amateurism. Communist Party of China can only maintain strong grip on power not by delivering democracy rather by pragmatically investing in real economic growth and progressive economic development.

Her bulging monetary reserves offers huge opportunity to identify, secure and sustain new supply lines of strategic mineral resources of which Africa possess huge commercial deposits. As a new competitor in the continent, China is naturally playing a rival’s game to obtain the best outcome in line with her strategic interest. African countries are wily enough to respond positively to Chinese overtures despite profound gaps in strategy have maintained the ability to attract, benefit and pragmatically manage Chinese expectations vis-a-vis Washington Consensus requirements. Comparative evidence between Washington DC and Chinese funding in Africa in the last 2 decades shows clear Beijing majority. Most importantly and for now, Chinese investment is positioned to provide real development through huge infrastructure projects to both the national economic and Chinese strategic interest.

China is driving diversification of new multilateral funding structures and the timing of these developments is crucial. In addition to dodged determination of United States to refuse credible reforms in World Bank and IMF allowing other countries especially emerging economies greater say points to loss of their legitimacy. At a time the West is barely registering positive economic growth, when some economies are shrinking, where many economy ministries have run out of ideas; China struck. 

Before the end of the decade BRICS New Development Bank will be up and running. In addition China is spearheading a new development bank, Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), targeting huge Asia market. Increased trade between emerging economies naturally diminishes preponderance of US dollars as many countries opt for national currency swaps for bilateral trade. What do these developments portend for the African economic space?

Theoretical Statics

Beyond the rhetoric of Chinese ‘peaceful rise’ and spearheading new geopolitical alternatives, theoretically China and partners in the new alternative are not different. They share the crux of action with their opposite/competitors in that the foundation of capitalism remains unchanged or unshaken. The basic element of capitalism which is depression of cost for maximum profit by any means necessary remains reinforced and unchallenged in the argument. And this is where African interlocutors will run into potential problems.

With exception of Russia most the countries of BRICS and AIIB emerged from Western colonialism or rather seat within western neo-colonialism since the last 100 years. Presentation of ‘peaceful rise’ by Beijing is carried along ‘developing’ countries lines which doesn't attempt to depict the full story. With the destruction of the erstwhile 3 or 4 tier global economic development classification, there is no basis for Beijing to sustain those claims any more than isolating examples of solidarity with former colonies during the colonial times.

It cannot also be suggested that China move is a serious threat to United States as the evidence is patchy in view of the fact that United States is not conquered or defeated by China in a conflict demanding her full submission as was the case for Germany and Japan post-WW2.

Capitalism Conditions Stupid

Before making the case that alternative multilateral funding to Africa will focus minds on inherent conditions, it is important to revisit basic understanding of Western capitalism and summarised its practice in Africa in the last 500 years. Capitalism is a method for wealth acquisition, wealth creation and wealth maintenance. Its raison d’être is profit. It is the highest expression of dehumanisation and social atomisation that reduces all material/immaterial to tradeable values as commodities.  

Capitalism (and particularly the neoliberal version) cannot thrive without violence and destruction towards extraction of profit. Read Liberal Virus by Samir Amin. By neoliberal capitalism, we express the method of pursuing economic growth/profit entailing movement/exchange of goods, services and capital (modes of production) with less/reduced state involvement/regulation versus more (few) private/market participation in a national economy.

For Africa this is vividly expressed starting with European imposition of Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in the 15^th century. The structure of European power including pre-Westphalia religious establishments accentuated the devaluation of African peoples which among other things enabled full scale dehumanisation and civilisation-stripping through violence that sustained over 300 years of slave trade which provide the riches now ring-fenced by Europe and North America. Slavery in its crude form was not abolished as a result of any semblance of humanitarian or moral acquiesce rather by economic priorities especially technological advances. Read The Counter Revolution of 1776 by Gerald Horne & The Deepest South: The United States, Brazil, and the African Slave Trade by Gerald Horne.

The natural by-product of slavery is colonialism. It was not a system of political imposition alone, it was a methodical application of industrial violence to appropriate peoples, domains and strip civilisation of their real and ontological existence. No amount of historical revision or sanitisation will delete this fact.  By act of foreign law, former slave zone were designated private properties of foreign sovereigns while the peoples, everything on the territory and continental shelves became commodities. Read How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney.

Comparatively, there is no evidence that the brutal impact of capitalism on Africa become excruciatingly pain only at the stage of neo-colonialism as alluded by Nkrumah in his Neo-colonialism-The last stage of Capitalism. Capitalism as an aggregate or as a disaggregated phased experience as present by Lenin in Imperialism – The Highest Stage of Capitalism is brutal, violent, destructive and inhuman wherever it is implemented and later dissected.

State Capitalism Par Excellence 

One of the main characteristics of China-led alternatives is the preponderance of state role in the various economies in contrast to US neoliberal agenda with its devastating impact on Africa currently and since the 1970s. Read Maldevelopment by Samir Amin. What is even more interesting is that the blueprint for successful management of capitalism is spearheaded by communists in Beijing. There is an important lesson apparently for African strategists and policy makers who are mostly drenched in western ideologies and ‘dogmas’. In any case action for reversing the role of the state in African economies, a Washington Consensus staple needs to be put on ice. Europe is a now a classic example of a failed neoliberal economic policy.

There is no empirical evidence to back the mantra that private sector provides better/quicker solutions or that private sector generates higher productivity. The case against public sector contributor is its obstruction to elitist control and minority monopolistic tendencies. While United States is erroneously held up as top example, the contradiction lays bare when centuries of racial discrimination against Africans, minorities, women and the poor is magnified. Read The Peoples History of United States by Howard Zinn. African leaders have the chance to review policies and strategic positions to assume important ground between depleting Washington Consensus and rising BRICS ND_Bank and AIIB.

As the new geopolitics of multilateral funding is emerging, it presents an architecture run and managed by post-colonial entities despite complex interlocking relationship between them, with the West and Russia. For the first time in many centuries, geopolitical power and density of monetary values/income no linger reside in the West. It is a profound outcome which seems unlikely to be torpedoed or reversed.

While the alternative developments offer Africa new opportunities, African cannot be blind to each country’s economic and institutional contradictions.  China, India, Russia and etc possess serious contradiction among doubtful state of readiness to play global role of such magnitude. Dismissal of Beijing’s power calculation or flexing of influence is a dangerous option because these funds carry associated conditions which may not be as odious and onerous as the West, nevertheless Chinese power will be projected forcefully devoid of military intervention.

Therefore Chinese Yuan loans for triggering state productive sector & infrastructure expansion in Africa provides strategic alternatives for chain-reaction development within national spaces and the continent at large.  Infusion of these funds should be guarded to prevent subversion toward massive privatisation of remaining state concerns in various African countries for Chinese interest. Privatisation is mostly skewed towards elites and corporations while the net result is massive loss to the state/citizens. Read State Resistance to Globalisation in Cuba by Antonio Camona Baez.

Crucially a new kind of leadership is need from Africa. Post-colonial leaders with full knowledge of colonialism and appreciation for emerging world nuance are ever critical. Strategists, analysts, managers and leaders with wider capacities to navigate through the geopolitical and foreign policy labyrinths of both West and East cannot be dismissed. Ethiopia is trending an example worthy of deeper review. Botswana continues to thrive with stability and limited resources.

These investments offer greater incentive for the main thrust of African development, which is African integration.  Read Africa Must Unite by Dr Kwame Nkrumah. Decline and weakening of the West may upset their ability to micro-manage their fronts in the continent as such gradual withdrawal of influence opens opportunities for seeking new partners in the continent. This is particularly obvious in the French colonised parts of the continent. Example shows that Portugal is more or less economically dependent on Angola (& Brazil).

At the End

China will be powerful and may be the most powerful country in the world. It will not be a dominant power with full spectrum control of global affairs rather counter weights will be strategically positioned in renewed geopolitical deployment of balance of power. Africa is poised to take advantage of this emergence of alternatives with increased vigilance against becoming accessories of internal conflicts and destabilisation. Events in Libya, DRC, Rwanda, Cote d’Ivorie and Mali are examples of conflicts sparked by geopolitical actors to control natural resources and in some cases to curtail supply to China.

It will be naive and dangerous to project a future with less conflict without adequate preparations. United States ambivalence on Africa is legendary and Washington DC has never countered the fact that its projection of power in Africa is mirrored in military conflicts. This form of foreign policy is far entrenched to be reversed.  Africa resource nationalism is important especially in the management of downstream activities within productive countries to ensure greater control of the benefits and greater transparency/equity in wealth distribution.

Above all African capitals must refrain from full opening of their markets in the form of free trade to other countries which will put the final nail in the coffin of economic development and subtle economic independence. China has become notorious with dumping of cheap products which eviscerated local industries. In the long run Africa must strategically position to seek full access to other markets around the world including Europe and North America.