5.7 - Politics and Economics of Sub-Saharan Africa

Politics

Struggles with Democracy

Instructor's Video Links to an external site.

World War II upended the relationships European countries had with their colonies. During the war, many Africans fought for the Allies and were promised independence in return. When these promises didn’t materialize, anti-colonial movements gained steam across the region just as former colonial powers like the United Kingdom and France emerged from the war significantly weakened. New international bodies like the United Nations, founded in 1945, put forth principles like universal human rights and self-determination - that countries have a right to govern themselves. As these ideas mixed with the nationalist, anti-colonial sentiments already brewing in the region, a wave of independence movements swept across sub-Saharan Africa. In 1960 alone, seventeen African countries declared independence and joined the United Nations.

The end of colonial rule in Africa brought into existence new independent states that had no effective government institutions and really no modern national identities. Postcolonial African leaders had the challenge of developing a governmental structure and developing a national identity. Most started out by adopting democratic constitutions copied from their European colonizers, but then quickly descended into various forms of authoritarianism.

One of the reasons for this is the legacy of authoritarianism inherent to colonial rule. Other reasons included the organizational advantages of using the military and even traditional tribal  patterns of political culture. Authoritarian rule was the norm in Africa until the 1990s. Today the norm is democracy, with most African governments coming to power through elections, and most rulers following civilian rather than military careers. But the struggle for democracy has not been entirely successful, with major reversals appearing frequently throughout the region. Certain rulers have successfully established family dynasties, or ethnic clan-based rule. New military rulers have come to power through coups d’état, or as warlords in failed or collapsed states. Denying basic freedoms of association, speech, and the press are common in some countries. Others are manipulating voter registration lists, denying voters’ rights, and engaging in fraudulent counts. Political scientists working on the continent today recognize that many authoritarian rulers have simply learned how to master and manipulate the new environment of democracy. There is a growing trend of post-election violence by people are unhappy with the election results and as a campaign technique. 

The Freedom Index ranks states based on the protection of "political and civil liberties and freedoms" that individuals are entitled to and receive. A score of 10 is the "most free". The US has a score of 8.46 and New Zealand (the highest in the world) has a score of 8.88.  Only seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa are now in the Free category -  the small island nations of Mauritius, Seychelles and Cape Verde lead the group,  followed by Botswana (7.17), South Africa (7.08), Ghana (6.94), Kenya (6.85), Namibia (6.75) and  Burkina Faso (6.73). The only region in the world with lower scores is the Middle East and North Africa.

The Legacy of Colonial Borders

Many of sub-Saharan Africa’s borders date back to colonial times, when boundaries were drawn without considering the people who would end up living on either side. After World War II, as countries gained independence, ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups within national borders started fighting for control. In 1964, many African governments formally agreed to maintain colonial borders in an effort to promote stability in the region. But this effort often failed. Just three years after this agreement, a bloody civil war broke out in Nigeria when an ethnic minority tried to secede and form the Republic of Biafra. Although the war ended in two and a half years with the surrender of Biafran forces, Nigeria has lived in uneasy peace ever since. Separatists in other countries were successful. In Ethiopia, separatists won independence after a thirty-year war, resulting in the new east African nation of Eritrea in 1993. A 2011 a peaceful referendum in Sudan resulted in the formation of another nation, South Sudan, but civil war erupted in the world’s youngest country just two years later. These new nations, and the conflicts within and between them, show that the map of sub-Saharan Africa is still in flux.

Economics

The Colonial Legacy

Colonizers were under heavy political pressure to make their colonies immediately and continuously profitable. In almost all cases, this constraint led to a shortage of long-term investment from the mother countries into the economic development of their colonies. They left behind limited infrastructure and virtually no local industry.

 As a result of colonialism, many of Africa's national economies became exporters of one or two raw materials or agricultural products. Countries were dependent on imports for equipment, capital goods, the bulk of their consumer goods, know-how and technology. By the 1980s only five countries (Benin, Sierra Leone, Morocco, Senegal and Zimbabwe) had diversified their exports.

Primary production still dominates Sub-Saharan Africa’s economies with 89% of countries in the region dependent on commodities. Because the economies of many African countries are heavily dependent on the export of one or two commodities, they are more susceptible to factors over which they have no control such as world price changes. This is similar to what we saw in Latin America.

Debt and Export Economy

Just like in Latin America, many countries in Africa accumulated substantial debts that helped keep them dependent on resource extraction.  Massive loans were offered to African governments by the US and Europe and by international development agencies. The projects they proposed were mostly huge - massive hydroelectric dams, industrial parks . But African governments were not yet in a position to manage these projects and experts had to be brought in from other countries. Corruption of high level politicians and bureaucrats resulted in the embezzlement of billions of dollars.

In the 1980s prices for raw material exports collapsed and the countries could not repay their debts. And just like in South America the World Bank stepped in and countries had to sell off government owned enterprises, funding was cut for eduction, health care, agricultural assistance, and aid to the poorest people. 

Unemployment rose and so did political instability. Roads and electrical power grids deteriorated. The cost of doing business rose. Investors were reluctant to invest in the region.  Between 1961 and 2009, because of the shift in agriculture toward cash crops for export, food production for consumption dropped 14% - making it the only region in the world where people didn't eat as well as they had in the past. 

The main African exports are:

• gold, diamonds and other metals (platinum, copper, cobalt)
• oil (Nigeria is one of the world's largest oil reserves and the biggest producer in Africa)
• iron ore
• coal
• palm oil
• sugar cane
• fish
• tea
• cacao
• cotton

Most Sub-Saharan governments have had their debt forgiven, and while some have accumulated new debts, poverty has been significantly reduced and human development increased in most of the region in recent years. 

The Informal Economy

Small scale, unregulated, and sometimes risky and illegal activities helped fill the employment gap. Selling garden produce on the street, preparing street food, selling cheap goods, making crafts items, providing child and elder care became and remain an important part of the economy especially in African cities.  Sex work, distilling illegal liquor, and smuggling and selling drugs, weapons, endangered animals, bushmeat, and ivory are all part of the informal economy. 

In cities, 2/3rds of the employment is in the informal economy.  Among women, its 90% of job opportunities. are in the informal sector. Estimates are that it accounts for 38% of the GDP.

New Foreign Investment

China and, to a lesser extent, India, have made massive investments in Africa. But that have done little to move the region away from depending on resources.  Together these countries consume roughly 18% of Africa's exports (especially oil and minerals) and provide 22% of its imports. While their investment has brought more money to the region it hasn't provided economic stability because Africa is still reliant on commodity exports. Loans from China for railways, dams, oil refineries, and business parks are being made to African governments and their repayment is guaranteed by Africa's natural resources.  Most of the work is done by Chinese companies, with Africa gaining few jobs or new expertise. 

India has been somewhat more willing to invest in sectors that might benefit the region, such as manufacturing and information technology.

African Innovation

More and more foreign-trained and educated African professionals are returning home and investing their time, expertise and money in Africa. These Africans are bringing uniquely African innovations to problems facing the region. Here are just a few:

• M-Pesa, a phone-based money transfer system launched in 2007 in Kenya as a way to manage micro-loans. Now it is used for all sorts of transactions and is spreading not only through Africa but also to eastern Europe, Afghanistan, India and beyond. By its 10^th anniversary M-Pesa processed 6 billion transactions for 30 million users worldwide. 
• Between 1995 and 2016 Africa’s population grew by an average of 2.7% annually, more than twice the global rate This makes food security a major issue. Kenyan start-up iCow, launched in 2011, is one of the simplest but cleverest tools being used to optimize every aspect of farming. Registered farmers are sent useful data and advice on best practices, and can see measurable improvements to yields in as little as three months. Many users only have basic phones, so iCow communicates via SMS messages. iCow is having a demonstrable impact on farming in East Africa, with an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 users, 70 to 80% of them in Kenya, with the remainder in Ethiopia and Tanzania.
• Fake drugs are a deadly and longstanding problem in Africa. One way to address this is through the high level of mobile-phone ownership in Africa (as high as 80%). Users simply text a code on medicine containers to a free number to confirm authenticity. This approach was pioneered in 2009 by Ashifi Gogo, a Ghanaian student and founder of Sproxil, one of the main providers of authentication services in Africa.

• The “safe” in SafeMotos is not there by chance. Africa’s roads are the most dangerous in the world, with traffic accidents causing more deaths than malaria in many countries. In Rwanda, 80% of accidents involve the 20,000 “mototaxis” in the capital, Kigali. Moto accidents are the second leading cause of death in Rwanda after HIV/Aids. To address this issue, in 2010 business partners Peter Kariuki and Barrett Nash came up with an app through which users could order taxis piloted by experienced drivers who have been screened and are then monitored for safe driving using data collected by telemetric sensors in their smartphones. More than 400,000 journeys have been arranged through SafeMotos in Kigali; the service is now launching in Kinshasa, Africa’s third largest city. 

• An Angolan app, Tupuca began as a food delivery service, but it has now expanded beyond restaurants to include supermarkets and pharmacies. Founded in 2015 by four young Angolans, the company is now thriving. The app is reported to have more than 200,000 active users, an impressive figure for a market without a tradition of ordering delivery food and groceries.
• South African startup Sun Exchange identifies suitable places for small-scale solar installations, notably locations that receive a lot of sun but would benefit from a cheap and regular power supply. This might be a small village. Then micro-investors are invited to buy a stake, and the necessary funds are raised. When the installation is completed, the villagers get affordable power and the investors get a steady return. Sun Exchange has attracted more than 14,000 members in 90 countries.
• M-Kopa, a Kenyan start-up, has as of January 2018, connected more than 600,000 homes in East Africa to solar power sources. M-Kopa estimates that it saves its customers around $750 in the first four years of use – an immense benefit for the 80% of its users who live on less than $2 a day. In addition, they no longer have to use dirty kerosene fuel. As of January 2018, M-Kopa had saved customers $450 million, while providing 75 million hours of “fume-free light” per month, with a reduction in CO₂ emissions of 780,000 tons
• Electronic waste around the world grew to 44.7 million tons in 2016. 60-90% of this waste is being illegally traded and sent to Asia and Western Africa. A young inventor in Togo, Kodjo Afate Gnikou, created a cheap 3D printer using electronic waste.

These are just a few of the innovations that African individuals and companies have created in the last few years.