Africa in one hundred years?

This morning I stumbled across an opinion piece on the Russian International Affairs Council's (RIAC) website entitled "Africa in one hundred years". I find the idea of predicting the socio-economic and political future of Africa five years or even one year from now to be an interesting exercise, so I felt I had to take a further look to see what bold projections the RIAC might dare to make about what the continent will look like a century from now.

Near the beginning of this article the author comments on the possibility of a multi-ethnic federalism as a solution to the chronic problems of political instability since independence, stating that  it is an "illusion... that in case of coincidence of these (*political and ethnic) boundaries there would be peace and order in Africa". He cites the Soviet example as evidence, and one could easily add the Yugoslav experiment to that list.

He goes on to cite several examples within Africa, suggesting that struggles over resource control may be a more likely cause of many recent conflicts, and that an ethno-centric view would be far too simple of a rationale.

Since I was originally drawn to the article by the promised one hundred year forecast, I was a little disappointed to find only minimal commentary on the future picture. The author's comments about the unfolding of a new resource colonialism and the subtle suggestion that the new colonial master would include the Chinese and Indians was certainly an interesting piece of speculation however.

Of the entire article, I found the concluding sentence contained the one thought that really grabbed my attention: "If multinational corporations and governments of the world's leading powers are able to agree on joint exploitation of African natural resources, it will be a great boon for Africans and for all the people of the planet." It would be fascinating to see research on how this could work as a way of preventing resource conflict in Africa in the century to come. Could a variety of joint ventures between American, European, Chinese, and other multinationals be a way of preventing resource-driven territorial neo-colonialism and of therefore ensuring peace for the continent? It's certainly interesting fodder for further reflection, research, and debate.

Link to the Article: Africa in one hundred years


Who/what is the RIAC?
** excerpt from the RIAC website about us page**  "Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) is a non-profit membership organization. RIAC activities are aimed at strengthening peace, friendship and solidarity between the peoples, preventing international conflicts and promoting crises settlement. RIAC mission is to facilitate the prospering of Russia through its integration in the global world. RIAC is a link between the state, expert community, business and civil society in an effort to find foreign policy solutions."