A few variables for Africa

Yeah I've been meaning to put this on the web so I don't lose it. This is a very basic answer to 'what do I think are the major variables that would help move Africa in the right direction'. I had to keep it short, and I was rushing through it but I still want to put this out there for a few reasons. I'm not too cool with one of the variables I put up, but haven't really had time to polish up my thinking on that particular one...

These are the essential variables that if properly put into place will bring about genuine and sustainable economic development in Africa.

Expansion of capitalism through state power
State power and capitalist expansion can co-exist. For instance in Western Europe, the modern state came to being at the same time as the industrial revolution. Most rulers tried as much as possible to fuel new sources and to expand their armies. This contributed to the broadening of property relations and market relations. All those reforms, which came as an effort to centralize power, had the consequence of fueling economic development.
More recently, China is an example of a country that has used state power to push through capitalist expansion. China is far from being a democracy but the government encourages entrepreneurial activity and encourages capitalism. Whereas in Africa, the state is too often seen as a source for ‘national cake’. African states will develop faster if they encourage people to start up their own businesses and if they increase the growth of the private sector as opposed to just distributing national resources to different constituencies to keep them happy.

Women Empowerment
The introduction of cash crops negatively affected gender parity in Africa. Men were forced into the wage economy, women had to pick up the slack and be in charge of everything else. Men were taught how to grow these cash crops and not women. Women continued to grow food crops for the family and for local consumption. Colonial rule also brought some aspects of educational preferences for males; schooling and teaching of new skills were primarily made available to men. Men were also favored in terms of property rights and ownership. European also contributed to women being disadvantaged with their views of men superiority over women. They disregarded old tradition, and imposed of a new western style where male dominance was the norm. All these factors and many more historical and cultural factors have contributed to women being marginalized and not fully participating in the formal economy of most African countries. So in effect most formal African economies are only performing at half their potential. African governments should implement serious policies that would empower women and allow them to catch up for lost time and become full contributors to the formal economy. They should look into implementing a program similar to the US Affirmative Action that would be geared to women. This is particularly needed in the educational sector where women have been disadvantaged due to the colonial preference for educating men.

Invest in Education and Infrastructure
African governments need to stop spending the little money they have on frivolous things and invest in education and infrastructure. One of the major problems African governments had post-independence was that there were simply not enough qualified Africans around. Not many teachers, doctors, lawyers engineers were available in Africa and this slowed the development plans of our new governments. This problem of lack of qualified labor still persists to this day. For Africa to fully reach its potential, its pool of skilled labor will have to increase. So that Africans won’t have to hire expatriates to do jobs that could easily be done by locals. In combination with this, African leaders should invest in infrastructure. Better infrastructure with more skilled labor will attract much needed foreign direct investment. Often times a big obstacle to companies coming to invest in Africa is not corruption as some would like to think but it’s the lack of infrastructure. Businesses won’t come to a place where there are no roads, no cable lines, no constant supply of water and no constant supply of electricity. For this, India is an example of a country that has invested in education and has the basic infrastructure requirements. This has allowed it to attract investment from western companies who have Indians perform the same services but for much cheaper prices. This strategic investment has lifted India from poverty and the country is now a major emerging market and is considered by many as a future power along with China.

Renegotiate with the multinationals that want our resources
Multinational firms are known to extract Africa’s natural resources at dirt-cheap prices without really helping the country in any way shape or form. If anything they are content with bribing a few select politicians so that they can move about freely and continue their exploitative extraction. In this case, African leaders need to think of the country’s interest and negotiate better terms with these companies and not jut settle with bribes. Botswana is a good example, once they realized that they had diamonds they didn’t let DeBeers, come around and dictate to them the terms. Instead, they negotiated with them and decided to work together on a partnership basis. Liberia has now done the same with Firestone that had been exploiting and polluting it for years.

True integration
This is needed because of the low domestic demand for products due to low population in some African countries but also due to the low purchasing power of the people in those countries. Furthermore, the fact that countries are landlocked makes it necessary for economic integration. In addition, economic integration would give African countries larger economies of scale and scope. Many African leaders understand this but the results have yet to match the rhetoric in this regard.
A final word needs to be said about Democracy. This will help Africa’s development in the following way. If the government is not doing a good job, it can be voted out of power. In Africa right now, too many leaders are allowed to persist in their constant mistakes due to the lack of a true democracy.