The Struggling continent - what's the problem with Africa?

[mini4me]

The global economy structure is holding Africa back!

Integration - You have to be fully integrated within the 'capitalist free market system' to excel as a country.
China is a big example - struggled outside the capitalist system, but now one of the richest in the world since becoming part of the free market. Sanctions placed on Zimbabwe no so long ago shows what being excluded can do to a country (inflation sky rocketed and forced them to print 1 million cash notes - a bottle of milk was costing like 100,000 Zimbabwean currency. Russia are also feeling the effects of being sanctioned by leading free market economies. Two years ago they were among the highest growing economy (along with other members of - BRICS). However they've slid back into recession and are experiencing high level of inflation after the sanctions.

So why is Africa struggling?
The main reason Africa still struggles so much is mainly due to not being fully integrated into the international free market. Simple answer would be to become more integrated like China, right? Well, problem is that the global market would not accept Africa.

Why? After all majority of world's mineral resources is located in Africa. So why?

Media portrayal of Africa plays a big part
The free market is driven by confidence, meaning that investors would only invest where they feel confident. The key issue is that the media's portrayal of Africa as a continent is horrific. You don't really need to be a genius to know portraying a continent as almost inhabitable would only drive investors and potential investors away.

As a result of the economic condition (directly and indirectly), we see rise in instability and wars.
- If you can't get richer, how can you have power/tools to fight instability? How can you have power/tools to educate your people/citizens? How can you properly fight corruption? How can you fight for stability?

Note: There are other reasons as to why Africa still struggles as a continent. This article just looks at it from a single perspective.. economic perspective. I hope you enjoyed it and hope you also learned a few things about economics.

 

[PeaceSigns]

Interesting perspective - I guess it is true that their markets are very much in their infancy because they're not integrated with international markets. But, I think that's the new form of slavery - established countries have the ability to prevent other countries from thriving by withholding their ability to trade and participate in the global economy.

 

[mini4me]

Interesting perspective - I guess it is true that their markets are very much in their infancy because they're not integrated with international markets. But, I think that's the new form of slavery - established countries have the ability to prevent other countries from thriving by withholding their ability to trade and participate in the global economy.

You are right. Could it be that developed nations feel threatened by emerging economies? As in they are afraid that jobs and companies would leave and move to developing economies where operations are usually cheaper.

But then again western companies such as Apple and Microsoft get wealthier as the world gets wealthier. For example, if say 500 million people escape poverty this year, there's an increased likelihood of them buying Apple/Microsoft product (say Iphone). If 500 million additional people buy Apple Iphone, that's around $250 billion additional income (theoretically) for Apple. Wealth:shock:

 

[Genesis]

I was thinking just about this question last night as I was watching the news and half-heard a report about the SUPER wealthy 2% getting more wealthy during 2014 and the middle classes losing out again. Probably time for a real revolution against megacorporations?

 

[mini4me]

I was thinking just about this question last night as I was watching the news and half-heard a report about the SUPER wealthy 2% getting more wealthy during 2014 and the middle classes losing out again. Probably time for a real revolution against megacorporations?

But would that make the world a better place? We should all look for solutions that will make the world a better place.

 

[Yozora]

Interesting.. I remember seeing a tv show, and in it there was this Africa-like place with a lot of strife. One of the characters wanted to build rockets, but nobody would buy them because they were built in that country, and therefore seen as unreliable. I think it was then that I realised how much public perception of a place can affect it...

 

[pan1]

I agree with mini4me perception. But let me tell you something, If you learn mass media, there is theory called "Agenda Setting". The main concept is media have a particular "reason" and particular "purpose" about the content they publish to society. They dont just make live report because its a there is a big thing happened. I mean content of media drove by something, something like what ideology, belief, culture, religion, politic, economci and many other.

Just thinking about this. If Obama buy CNN stock, you will never find a negatif news about him, but you will heard a lot of bad news about Kim Jong Un (north korean president).

 

[Genesis]

You're right Vongo. I was talking to a colleague yesterday about this too. Both of us only catch headlines of news. We don't follow the news like we used to. I imagine there are millions of other people who feel the same way as well. You can try and manipulate people for so long, but not all of the time.

 

[pan1]

Yes. I believe there is not single thing in this world that occured coincidentally, so do what happened in Africa. They are just victim. It seem impossible to find out what really happened there and what will happen soon. Media has the power to tell us what is going on but they just told what is going on only on the surface. Even if they knew the truth, there will be lot of conflict to decide wether they publish the story or keep it in their harddisk.

I was told that right now, information is same as gold and gasoline. Just 10KB of text you write in notepad could decide the future of some race, some country, even the world.....

Ah, have you watch movie about press in Africa, I think the title is Bang bang club. The movie told me that "Wherever you are, you can always buy coca cola, even in the middle of war in some place of Africa".

 

[Hazem]

Is there a problem with Africa?

 

[mini4me]

Is there a problem with Africa?

I assume since it's a free world, some people would not think there's a problem. However Africa with all their natural resources, population and hard work do not seem have not been able to leave the 3rd world bracket and are not progressing as much either. That causes a lot of issues such as poverty, sickness, etc. That's just wrong.

 

[nobodyspecial]

No Thing here