The Sino-American Scramble for Africa
Not only do Africa's economic-development indicators lag far behind those of many other regions, but the continent also has a demographic time bomb on its hands. If the rest of the world, particularly its largest economies, do not engage constructively with the continent, Africa's problems will become global problems.
NEW HAVEN – Africa, I recently noted, “accounts for 17% of the world’s population, but only 3% of global GDP.” This stark imbalance means that, in the years ahead, Africa will be either a source of “global instability and extremism” or a major source of global growth. One has only to look at economic and demographic trends to understand why the first outcome seems more likely.