Should developed western nations actually manage African recovery in Africa?

Question

Billions of $ are available in Africa, oil wealth, mineral wealth and 100s of billions in aid have been spent by Europe and the USA .Even China and other eastern countries help Africa.

Still Africa rots in poverty, violence and above all corruption. A realist should be applauded for saying they appear not to be able to take advantage of the massive wealth at their disposal to improve the lot of Africans.

I think any further aid should be in the form of companies, farms etc being "hands on” managed by Europeans and other developed nations. In other words all wealth actually directly controlled by foreigners such as EU members and other developed nations appointed by the UN.

We have done it in Europe we can do it for them but we need 100% control

Answer 1

You are not articulating it in a very attractive way but your premise is right. Post-colonial Africa has more or less imploded in upon itself. Recolonization is their only hope.

Answer 2

Razor Jim is right, corruption is endemic and in every aspect of African life. Sam is right too, only giving the whole operation to Europeans , Japanese or any advanced country  will Africa modernise.

Answer 3

No way in a billion years. Western nations are democracies. The electorates are invariably selfish. The democratic government has to conform to these selfish wishes.

E.g. genocide occured in Rwanda, the population of western countries didn't care about the Rwandans therefore the western governments did nothing to stop the genocide.

99% of western people just want a nice lifestyle. They really don't care if children die in order for them to obtain that lifestyle. E.g. every one has a toaster. If they didn't buy the toaster and spent the money on sponsoring a African child instead then they could save a life. But do they care? h**l no. They want a toaster.

If western governments had control of Africa then they would act to satisfy the selfish wishes of western people. I.e. Africa would be raped.

Sorry but it's the stupidest idea I've ever heard. Second stupidest is "Africa has a bottomless pit of donations from Western countries". Get your facts straight. Norway is the most generous country in the world. It gives 0.62% of it's GDP to overseas aid. 0.62%! Thats f*cking nothing.

Answer 4

Africa has been a bottomless pit for cash donations from western countries. Nothing changes

Answer 5

Corruption in Africa is generally fuelled by foreigners who are happy to give bribes in order to obtain lucrative contracts etc. Africa's plight cannot be attributed to Africans alone, but by and large foreigners, including EU, USA, China etc have all contributed to make the continental poorer, by taking advantage of the prevailing poverty and ignorance. Most of the so-called aid given to African countries is usually taken back in one form or other, in the form of consultancy fees, cheap prices for raw materials, high cost of imported machinery and other goods etc.

During the Cold War, the West actually encouraged African dictators like Mobutu, Eyadema, Bongo, etc. who were pro-western to loot their countries of billions of dollars.

Now the West can turn a new leaf and help some of these African countries on the road to development by rewarding those who practise good governance with substantial development aid (in billions instead of the usual couple of millions) so that they can embark on major infrastructural development projects like good roads, railways, sanitation projects, clinics, schools etc.

If the West should fail to encourage this type of development in African countries, they should be ready for a massive invasion of their countries by economic refugees from thse impoverished African countries.

Answer 6

When have we done it in europe?

Anyways, 100% control is impossible, otherwise africa would be called USA. The real danger is not africans themselves but the people in charge.

Answer 7

Well, you have to look at it from their perspective.  They have been controlled for a number of decades and arent really happy with their situation.  The lines that we (as colonizers) had drawn to create their countries did not take into consideration the literal thousands of different ethnic tribes that exist in the continent.  We simply thought what works best for us.  This caused the distribution of power and land to be horrible for the continent, causing strife and all out war in many places.  When one side gets the economic or political upper-hand, they would use it to exploit the other.  Wouldn't you do so against a group who killed your people?  Thats like asking the Hutu and Tutsi tribes to hold hands in the mid-1990s.

Then comes the fun part.  Even after all of this, they are put into a macro economic situation that does not favor them.  Sure, we will give them aid, billions of dollars of it.  But, they have to produce corn, or wheat, or cocoa, or something else with it.  Of course they cant spend it on education, what a silly idea.  The IMF and WB hold lending policies that cause African to "compete in the international economy".  Lets just forget about building infrastructure and educating your people and concentrate on your comparative advantage.  Instead of managing African development, we should give them a little more freedom of choice while limiting the amount of corruption that exists, both on our side and their side.

Answer 8

No one is over there helping, they are over there exploiting, how else can you explain the facts that you gave but the situation is the same, if not worse.