Uchechukwu Ngwaba*. Abstract The excitement with which Africa welcomed the International Criminal Court (ICC) has given way to wariness and outright opposition on account of perceptions of unfair targeting of the continent; double standards in the pursuit of international criminal justice and the feeling that the ICC is a tool for the perpetuation of global power matrices and asymmetries. This paper deploys third world approaches to international law’s framework to argue that Africa’s current predicament with the ICC is largely self-inflicted. The paper argues that it is absurd for Africa to expect too much from the ICC or that…
Author: CASADE
Claire Metelits. The events of 9/11 brought increased engagement with the African continent.1 Yet, while Africa’s significance to U.S. foreign policy has shifted since the Cold War—particularly with the formation of the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) in 2007—security doctrine remains rooted in political realist thought. The “state,” for example, has kept its place of importance in security narratives through government-to-government interactions and consultations as well as weapons sales and training. Likewise, responses to poverty and under-development have become militarized, demonstrated by increasing numbers of U.S. civil affairs2 operations concurrent with shrinking Congressional allocations for traditional foreign assistance. In challenging the…
John O. Ifediora. Nigeria, like its oil-exporting counterparts such as Venezuela, Iran, Algeria, and to a lesser extent, Indonesia, exhibits all the symptoms of a petrolized state —the near exclusive dependence on petrodollars to finance its fiscal expenditure, and private-sector consumption. But its development path, while yielding generally similar results to those of similarly situated oil-producing states, is decidedly different. As is true with its peer oil-exporting states, Nigeria’s development trajectory was determined by unique colonial experiences, and post-independence policy choices. In this regard, its decision to decentralize and diffuse political and economic power within the country is pre-eminent in…
A Two-Step Recommendation To The In-Coming Buhari Administration For Curbing Bureaucratic Corruption. Editorial Commentary. At the outset, it must be understood that corruption is a universal phenomenon, and not an exclusive preserve of Nigeria. However, its domestic manifestation is invariably conditioned by a wide range of unique cultural, social, religious and political realities extant in the territorial competence of a country, and thus shape its meaning and policy implications. Reducing the incidence of corruption is vital to a nation’s economic and social well-being for it sends the correct signal to its citizens and the outside world that the…
Bukola Bolarinwa. In April 2015 another wave of xenophobic violence swept over South Africa. Starting in Durban, the attacks on foreigners spread to suburbs in Johannesburg and to Cala in the eastern Cape. At least six people have been killed and scores injured as they sought refuge in make shift camps and police stations. The authorities have arrested more than 300 people so far, forcing thousands of foreigners to flee the affected towns. This isn’t the first time Africa’s rainbow nation has had attacks of this nature, targeting mostly its African neighbours and their businesses. Between 2000 and March 2008,…
Nnamdi Awa-Kalu. On December 10, 1974, then United States Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, Henry Kissinger- a revered figure in global discussions of foreign policy- directed the completion of a paper entitled ‘National Security Study Memorandum 200: Implications of Worldwide Population Growth for U.S. Security and Overseas Interests (NSSM200).’ This document articulated what was later adopted as official US policy by President Gerald Ford. A significant portion of the paper asserted that the United States should consider population control in some 13 countries of ‘paramount importance’ as a matter of national security. The peoples of these countries, it seemed,…
John O. Ifediora. Botswana has Sovereign Wealth Funds, and has used them admirably to develop its economy, reduce poverty, and continues to invest heavily in human capital through higher education. Nigeria has sovereign wealth funds, but they have been depleted and misallocated. At a time when the country needs the benefits of a functional sovereign funds the most – declining oil prices, erratic and undependable power generation, and an obscene unemployment rate, its Sovereign Wealth Funds exist in name only. This has left citizens and economists both within and without the country scratching their heads and each other’s head for…
Benjamin Powell and Matt Ryan. For more than 50 years individual countries and international agencies have given aid to third world countries to promote economic development, yet poverty still persists in many recipient nations. In recent years development economists and agencies have increasingly recognized the importance of institutions that support property rights and economic freedom in promoting development. Nevertheless, nations continue to provide aid to less developed countries. This raises two important questions. Does the receipt of aid lead to increases or decreases in economic freedom, and are increases in economic freedom rewarded with more aid or punished with…
By Calestous Juma. Africa’s clichéd image of ‘basket case’ could be transformed in a generation to ‘bread basket’, a continent capable of feeding itself despite the twin challenges of a still burgeoning population and the exigencies of climate change. That is the clear and confident message of The new harvest, whose lead author, Kenyan-born Calestous Juma of Harvard University, has produced a book of evidence-based recommendations for transforming African food production. As Professor of the Practice of International Development and Director of the Science, Technology, and Globalization Project at Harvard, he recognises the shortcomings of the past, particularly the lack…
Quamrul Ashraf, and Oded Galor. Abstract. This paper argues that deep-rooted factors, determined tens of thousands of years ago, had a significant effect on the course of economic development from the dawn of human civilization to the contemporary era. It advances and empirically establishes the hypothesis that, in the course of the exodus of Homo sapiens out of Africa, variation in migratory distance from the cradle of humankind to various settlements across the globe affected genetic diversity, and has had a long-lasting effect on the pattern of comparative economic development that is not captured by geographical, institutional, and cultural…