Africa and the West: A History of Conflict and Cooperation

Africa is known for its abundant natural resources in the world. Despite this wealthy resource possession, it ranks as one of the poorest continents. Over the years, most countries in African, especially in the poverty of the rural areas, continue to increase. Poverty is a state where one has little or no money to depend on for support. The world bank acknowledges countries that have 1.25 dollars a day to live on as weak. According to the world bank, it sets this indicator to be able to evaluate which countries are poor and wealthy. Besides, indicators such as The human Development Index (HDI) are set to measure the level of poverty in Africa. Some of these indicators include life expectancy at birth, per capita income, and average school attendance period. According to Addae-Korankye (2014), some of the reasons linked to poverty in Africa associated with corruption, poor governance, limited opportunity, conflicts, reduced resource usage, and ineffective world bank and IMF strategies. Due to this, the continent continues to face extreme challenges such as hunger, high infant mortality, and diseases such as malaria and chronic malnutrition in children. However, there are theories in place that help in understanding the reasons behind under development in the continent. Such approaches include neo-colonialism or dependency and modernization theory. 

Neo-colonialism is where colonial agents control the less developed countries. People also describe it as dependence on foreign aid by less developed countries. Neo-colonialism trace back to Africa's colonialization, where the European government deployed policies that helped them in maintaining their control in Africa. Neo-colonialism, also known as neo-imperialism, involved practices such as capitalism, globalization, and cultural imperialism. In this case, the developed countries used their policies to have control over political and economic power in their colonies. The developed countries, according to this theory, shows that they used their influence and ability to exploit. However, neo-colonialism was a strategy to block growth in those countries and retain them as sources of cheap labor. For instance, during the cold war, the U.S government initiated a policy that offered a large amount of money to countries that accepted their protection from communism. In this case, many countries agreed to U.S regimes, and they abandoned their interests as a country. In this case, the U.S extended its sphere of influence in those countries, meaning they maintained control ( Langan, 2018). 

Modernization theory states that countries develop through predictable stages that highly depend on the availability of technology, political, and social change. Modernization theory emerged from a German sociologist named Max Weber, where he assumed that the internal factors of a country with assistance could bring about development. The approach reflects on the process of change by considering the social and cultural structure of a county in adapting to new technologies. Karreth (2018) states that modernization theory maintains that developing countries can still grow as they continue to adapt to new technologies. Besides, it links to the spread of industrialization, urbanization, and widespread education. The theory also holds that as modernization rise, traditional, religious, and cultural beliefs become less paramount in society. With this, communication, transportation, and the community become more urban. Social-economic development facilitated by this aspect will promote other changes for the middle class and the country as well. The theory has been linked to the growth of poverty in African since it helps the rich to be richer and the poor to be poorer. 

In explaining the cause of poverty in Africa and the West, the dependency theory helps in understanding the prevalence of poverty in those countries. Third world countries such as Asia, Africa, Oceania, and Latin America are underdeveloped because they highly depend on other countries for survival. In the neo-colonialism era, foreign capital aided in developing countries to exploit their resources, which does not facilitate growth and development. In analyzing the poverty level in Africa, this theory plays a significant role. For instance, one of the traits associated with poverty is the disoriented economy that solemnly depends on other nations. Africa has remained to be miserable over the years because it's economically dependent on capitalist countries that continuously extract wealth from their continent. It is just like in the colonization era where the capitalist countries indirectly controlled their colonies through political and economic policies. Lack of independence significantly contributes to reliance on nations that only acts for their best interest. In this case, the aid only increases the poverty status, where the gap between the rich and the poor enlarges. The growing over-dependency on the rich nations paves the way for growth and development for these countries while in Africa, it becomes impossible for growth. The individuals who suffer more are those working in urban areas as their status of living declines while those in wealthy countries benefit the most. Although the continent been rich in resources that would be essential in growth and development, Africa is still struggling in poverty. 

After decolonization, most of the African countries gained their independence, where they were able to implement policies that would govern them. However, this did not mean that the state does not receive any financial aid from other nations. Neo-colonization is an approach that indicates that poverty still prevails in the continent. As much as it may link to negative aspects of exploitation and the primary reason for the fragile economy in Africa, new colonization has significantly assisted in many factors such as fighting hunger and diseases. The presence of neo-colonialization shows that Africa and other western countries require more help. On the contrary, it does not guarantee that the continuous financial aid will help in growth and development. For instance, the continued financial assistance has subjected the many African countries to enormous debts. In this case, the nations will have to be under the control of their masters, meaning that that development will be on hold. People regard international sovereignty as a way to impoverish the less. Poverty in Africa highly links to corruption and poor governance, where the program designed to fight this epidemic has fallen on the wrong hands. In this case, the embezzlement of funds continues to prevail, denying the people funds for development, which creates an imbalance in the society. One of the economic drivers in growth is infrastructure such, like roads, water systems, and railways. In this aspect, Africa entrenches to large debts meaning that its unable to fund development. Modernization approach cannot exhaustively explain the prevalence of poverty in Africa because it revolves around the aspects of the availability of resources that will help to enhance development. In this theory, the rich become more abundant at the expense of the poor. Besides, this approach does not consider the impact of the role of the rich nations on Africa, which ideally contributes to poverty ( Jones 2005). 

The neo-colonization approach opens up the factors that promote poverty in the current generations. African countries have failed to clear debts that they had taken to boost their economy, which has led to more economic hardship. Even after decades of acquiring independence, developing countries are still subject to their colonial masters who left behind structures, institutions, and authorities. The infrastructures lefts act as a link for their way for indirect control of the economy and politics. Besides, other countries reduce Africa to exporters of raw materials, which has decreased industry competitiveness in the world. To address the poverty problem in Africa, the political and economic leaders need to implement ways to fight poverty. One measure that can help in eliminating poverty in Africa is implementing strategies that will end the reliance on rich countries. African leaders should embark on reviving their economy by strengthening their industrial and production powers of infant industries, which will help in competing internationally. Again, African leaders should focus on investing in their home country, which will assist in creating wealth from nature. 

Reference 

Addae-Korankye, A. (2014). Causes of poverty in Africa: A review of literature.  American International Journal of Social Science ,  3 (7), 147-153.. 

Jones, B. G. (2005). Africa and the poverty of international relations.  Third World Quarterly ,  26 (6), 987-1003. 

Karreth, A. K. (2018). Development in Theory and Practice: Culture, Ethnocentrism, and the Liberal Model.  Polity ,  50 (4), 664-675. 

Langan, M. (2018). Agency, Sovereignty, and Neo-Colonialism. In  Neo-Colonialism and the Poverty of'Development'in Africa  (pp. 207-235). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.