Sub-Saharan Africa: Part 2

Some More African Case Studies

The Congo Free State/Belgian Congo

• Congo basin last area to be explored by Euros

– Last part sorted out by Stanley’s search for Livingstone

• Established at the conference as a free trade zone and one of the largest colonies

– Run as a personal colony by King Leopold II of Belgium

• During Rubber Boom, 50% of workers died, many had hands cut off as punishment for slacking

– Was such a large, brutally run state other European countries, Mark Twain protested

• Eventually the Belgium parliament took over in 1908

– Far less violent in control, but locals had almost no control or role in government

Post-independence Economies

– Africa’s difficulties in the post-independence era include:

• supplier of cheap resources & low-cost labor

• Political problems and corruption.

• Underutilized human capital (ie skill sets)

– Includes professionals on down to farmers

• Civil unrest, competition for resources & interstate wars.

• Steep oil price increases.

• Ill-advised economic reorganization and structural adjustment programs

– Incomes did not rise from 1960’s-90’s

– Hope democracy will bring about stability

Primary Sector

• Raw Material Export

– Until very recently African countries are still centered around exporting one or two raw materials.

• Oil, peanuts, cocoa, gold, platinum, hardwood, fish, soybeans

– To diversify to other exports requires roads, equipment, investment, and larger farms

• This would help tax base, but force more people off land to cities

• Zimbabwe broke up its large white-owned farms, food output dropped

Economic Examples

• Botswana

– Botswana has amongst fastest rising income, is a middle income country

– The diamond industry has funded infrastructure improvement, as opposed to corruption, conflict

• However, 20% are well off, 80% remain poor

– AIDS especially hurts agriculture/labor sectors

• South Africa

– Connections, education of Europeans helped developed a diversified economy

• But they kept all the wealth, only now beginning to spread

1970’s onward…

• With low commodity prices starting in 1970’s, high cost of imports, large loans, things got bad

• Like elsewhere, went through structural adjustment in 1980’s to pay down debt

– Positive: Forced real bookkeeping, reduced inefficiency in state agencies, curtailed corruption a little

– Negative: Debt did not go down, more spent on debt than health and education combined, selling of state owned companies cut jobs

• Foreign investment never came either, b/c of lack of educated workforce, higher costs than SE, E Asia

– Remittances are starting to make a difference

• Elites connected to regimes often got the most local benefit of privatization

– Now, many of the poorest countries are have had debt forgiveness; world bank policy post 2005 turned towards poverty (not debt) reduction

SAP’s by Sector

• Agriculture

– Often export agriculture encouraged with currency devaluation

• Makes goods cheaper to export, but more expensive to import other items

– Fertilizer, machinery, seed

– SAP’s prescribed same ideas everywhere

– Women not consulted in programs, despite the fact they grow the family’s food

• Industry

– Loans for export factories that didn’t succeed

– Removal of tariffs led to flood of Asian goods

• Informal Economy

– 2/3 of economic activity in cities; 90% of women’s employment in places

– Too expensive to pay license fees to get legal

– Women children forced out of good informal jobs

Alternative Pathways to Development

• Increasingly, new investment is coming from China and India, to fuel their growing markets demand for food and raw materials

– Whether this will be a better type of relationship than the old colonial ones remains to be see

– India has been particularly important because many Indian companies have expertise in delivering services to the poor even without good infrastructure

• A big deal is that Indian mobile phone company Airtel created an 18 country network across which any call is considered local

– This is huge because calling other African countries was more expensive than calling Europe

• Regional Economic Integration

– Many countries (esp. in West Africa) too small to be competitive on their own

• Idea is if they band together could get economies of scale

– Right now only 11% of trade between African countries

• Again, phone calls, flights between cities routed through Europe

– Governments have very little control to surrender to regional blocks, though efforts in West, South and East Africa exist

– African Union to produce position papers, help in peace keeping

Alternative Pathways

• Grassroots Development

– Grassroots rural economic development is an alternative to urban migration.

• Cooperative farms, work crews, both which largely employ women, are successful in Kenya

– Self-reliant development focuses on local skills, jobs, products or services, and control.

• Improving transport for women, who do most of the carrying and walking can give them more time for other activities

• Technology

– Some Africans educated in West returning, opening up low cost firms that use computers and IT (not expensive factories) to build African consumer base

Politics and Colonial Legacies

• Origins of Conflict

– European-created borders remain a major factor for political turmoil in Africa.

• Put conflicting groups together, divided other groups

– Colonial governments often practiced ethnic discrimination, aligning with one group in order to have them assist in ruling other groups

• In some countries, post-independence saw rule by a minority group (often same one favored by Europeans)

• In others, long conflicts with minority groups

Politics and Colonial Legacies

• The Case of Conflict in Nigeria

– Nigeria dominant in West Africa b/c of large population, oil, and diversified economy.

– But a complex country w/ 395 languages

• Biggest Groups: Muslim Hausa and Fulani, Christian Yoruba and Igbo

• Hausa had political power, Igbo and Yoruba education, bureaucracy

– Igbo rebelled, tried to secede

Nigeria (cont.)

– Oil is plentiful, lucrative, but highly mismanaged

• Military officials have taken half of the profits

• Oil underneath the Ogoni’s land

– No profits, all the environmental destruction

– Ogoni leader Ken Saro-Wiwa was executed

– Current President Buhari is forcing Shell to pay for cleanup

– Creation of more provinces, moving of capital to interior helping to decrease tensions

Politics (cont.)

• The Cold War in Africa

– Like elsewhere, Soviet Union and United States funded opposing states, rebel groups within states

• This often prolonged conflicts

• Elite Rule

– Elites tended to be involved in one party rule, patronage type governments

• Since government often sole source of wealth in country available to Africans, much competition to control its levers

• Shifting towards democracy

– Currently more than half the states in Africa have some form of real election

• Democracy at least allow criticism

• Also fewer interstate conflicts

– In the last decade, many states have seen a strong move towards women being represented in parliament – including Rwanda at 61% and Mozambique, Senegal and South Africa over 40%.

Settlement Patterns

• Rural Settlements

– 62 % of sub-Saharan Africans live in villages.

• Most contain family compounds, with houses arranged around a central open space.

• Increasingly, some family members do seasonal agriculture or construction work

• Urbanization

– Cities are an old settlement form in Africa, but have grown very quickly (Lagos, 48x since ’50)

– Most countries have a primate city that dominates (Kampala, Kinshasa)

• Often the city favored by colonial administrations

– Go for hope of better life, find lack of formal jobs, housing, long commutes

• Many engage in circular migration; going back and forth from countryside to city.

Population Patterns

• Much of region is not very densely populated

• However issue is about Carrying Capacity

– Carrying capacity is maximum number of people an area can support given available food, water and other resources

• Some areas, like Sahel, tropical leaching/disease areas cannot support large populations

– Also affected by cultural, social, economic, and political factors.

• Imported food can increase carrying capacity, provided wealth is available to get it

– Outside of urban areas, very little money available to purchase imports

– Instead, people live off their land

Population Growth

– Fastest growing world region: tripled in 50 years

• Problematic b/c of carrying capacity issues

– That being said, rates are slowing rapidly

• Infant mortality rates are high, but coming down

• Contraception use increasing; mobile phones; increasing urbanization; women’s education is a part of it.

– Traditional contraception, like breast feeding, declined as Europeans pushed infant formula

• In rural areas; children seen as labor, maintenance of family spiritual traditions

– In more urban areas in Southern and Eastern Africa, basically approaching replacement levels.

» More on this in a minute

Public Health

• Sub-Saharan Africa home to sleeping sickness (fly), schistosomiasis (worm), malaria (mosquito), and river blindness (worm).

– Infectious diseases cause about 50% of all deaths in Africa (2.2% in Europe)

• Drugs expensive, not 100% effective

– Also, fewer drugs developed compared to diseases that impact US/Europe

– Schistosomiasis and malaria are standing water diseases

• Increased w/ dams, rice paddies

• Both decrease productivity greatly

HIV-AIDS in Africa

– 70% of 40 million world-wide cases

• Women make up 59% percent of HIV infections here, vs. 50% globally

– Because it kills most productive age group, devastates society

• Costs money and time to treat patients, orphans, diverts money from less fatal diseases like malaria

– Only 60-80% are getting the medicine they need (much better than the almost <10% 15 years ago)

• Cuts life expectancy (got as low as 37 in wealthy Botswana; 61 right now in South Africa)

• Populations could shrink (20% in Zimbabwe)

– Highest infection rate among women, as well as married women

• Get it from husbands, who visit nearly universally infected sex workers

• Hard to fight, disease has lag time

AIDS (cont)

• Spread connected to urbanization

– Truck and bus drivers major carriers

– Also men who work in city, return to countryside

– In cities, less social pressure than country

– Young girls targeted for sex, supposed to be clean

– Many women engage in occasional sex work

• Despite literacy issues, well-supported education works

– Senegal started education in 1980’s, infection at 1%

– Uganda had aggressive condom distribution program & educational programs

• Treatment expensive

– After early resistance, drug companies cooperating

– Governments, foundations helping