Africa facing development and globalisation

Introduction:
There are 54 states and more than 1 billion people in Africa . Usually , this continent has a bad reputation , he is nicknamed the under-developped continent . But there is an important change since 10 years
Development is the process by which the living conditions of the population are improving . There are three pilars , and many indicators to measure it : Economic development (ex: GDP) , social developmnt (ex: HDI) and environmental development (ex: Ecological footprint)

Demographicly , there is an important growth but all the countries are in the demographic transition . Here too , southern and northern countries are more advanced . Per exemple, in Algeria , the number of birth per woman is about 2 . Morever , there is a decline of conicts and political instability . New regional organisations have been created in the 90s as the South-African Development Community in 1994 . A wave of democratisation followed this (Tunisia and Egypt in 2011) but an important diversity in African policy in each country. The urban developpement is strong too . The urban population will overpass the rural one in 2025 . The coastal cities have a port which is implied in the globalisation so they take advantage of the middle of the country .

How is Africa facing development ?

b- Globalisation in Africa: Old and new trades

Africa has participated to the globalisation since a long time . Indeed , it was conected to the rest of the world since ages with gold , wood and slave market . From the 19th centry (colonisation) , Africa became more important because european empires were mining ressoursses and operating in tropical agricultural productions (Coffee , Cocoa , cotton , tobacco , banana ...) .

I- New hopes and challenge for Africa

a- A new developpement
There is a big economic growth in Africa . Indeed , it is between 2 and 6% per year since 2000 but 4 countries from northern and southern Africa gather 50% of the African GDP : South Africa (24%) , Nigeria , Algeria and Egypt (10% each) .

After decolonisation , Africa declined in the international trade . Why ? Because of the competiton with other regions as South American and Asia . Today , Africa represents only 4% of the global trade and most of this exportations are raw materials with a low added value ( faible valeur ajoute) as oil or wood. But there are new trends... Emerging coutries are investing in Africa in exchange for exloitation of mining ressources . China per exemple builds infrastructurs in Africa (Chinafrica) . Brasil and India do that too . Land grabbing is a new trade . 60% of free arable lands in the world are located in Africa . Many countries buy this land to produce for their own needs as South-Korea in Madagascar , United Arabian Emirates in Sudan or simply China and Saudi Arabia . European countries are also buying lands for biofuel production. Information technologies are increasing really quickly especialy mobile phones and the internet which helps for a better insertion in a globalized world . The rise of the price of raw materials since 2000 is a chance for african countries . The weight of the debt (poids de la dette) decreased thanks to this improvement .

But for all these new trands , there are many differences and contrasts which means that Africa is a continent of diversity .

c- Many challenges for the future

1) Demography is still an important challenge . More than 40% of the population is under 15 years old . This is a challenge for education in these poor countries . Morever , HIV (aids) is still important . 70% of people infected live in Africa . HIV is strong in southern africa (more than 20%) and northern africa (less than 2%) so there are big contrarsts . But there are some improvement : The pandemic is slowing down in Africa since few years . 2) Another challenge is to feed the growing population . There is a development of an efcient agriculture but land grabbing is a problem because African states cant use those lands to feed their own population . 3) Managing the growing urban population is a difcult and fast challenge with a little money to build infrastructures in the cities . It is an important challenge for the future . 4) Africa is still a dependent continent . Even with new partners as China or India, Africa is still dependent from other regions. Per example, The prices of raw material are xed in London .
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These new partners are not really better than former european colonies . 5) There is an important political instability in Africa . Many states or regions are in trouble as the Horn of Africa (Corne de lAfrique) with the Somalian crisis , Mali and Niger with the Touareg rebellion and terrorism . Starvation and refugee camps are still numerous in Africa . Morever , political corruption leads to a difcult development of a proper state without efcient policies .

-The Gauteng (ther region of Johannesburg and Pretoria) has 10 million inhabitants . - Durban is also a very populated city with 3.5 million inhabitants. Its region , the Kwazulu Natal has 10 million inhabitants, Durban included. - Cape Town and its 3.7 million inhabitants is a huge city too . Its region , the Western Cape gathers 5.8 million people . Those three areas gather randomly 1/3 of the South African population and 70% of its GDP

II- South Africa , an emerging country

a- The rst african economy
An emerging country is a developing country with some caracteristics of developed countries as a high economic growth , an integration in the globalisation and a strong political inuence at a regional level . Some of them are gathered in a group called the BRICS (Brasil , Russia , India , China , South-Africa (since 2011)

There is an important south-african growth . Indeed , there is an average 5% growth since 1998 . Its GDP represents 25% of the whole African GDP . This growth is based on mining ressources as diamonds , gold , coal , iron... and on industry as car manufacturing , agribuisness... But with developpement and globalisation , the services are more and more important in the south-african economy . Nowadays , 2/3 of the GDP is created by services companies which are developping as Eskom (electric public utility , rst in Africa
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South-Africa is between North and South . It has a 1.2 million square kilometer area and 50 million inhabitants . But the south african territory is devided between east and west .

and fourth in the world) , MTN (telecomunication group) and Shop Rite And Score (an important retail company) .

The SADC is a group of 15 states which have 277 million inhabitants together . South-Africa dominates this organisation . Indded , the south-african GDP represents 70 of the global GDP of the SADC . South-Africa is applying for a permanent seat on the UN security council . It is a member of the G20 and the BRICS . The South african diplomacy is more and more involved in Africa (per exemple : South African troops in Central Republic of Africa) and outside as in Afganistan . The organisation of the world Cup 2010 strengthened the fame of the country . Tourisme is developing fast (6 million international tourists)

b- A regional power
Since the end of the Apartheid in 1991 , South Africa became a regional power in southern Africa and for all the continent (in competition with Nigeria) There is a good economic attractivity in the coutry . South African TNCs (Trans National Companies) are all over the world . It is the rs destination for FDI (Foreign Direct Investments) in Africa . Between 3 and 4 million illegal immigrants from neighbouring states are attracted by the South-African dynamism . Its currency (the Rand) is the ofcial currency of Namibia , Lesotho and Swaziland . South Africa is more and more involved in globalisation . Relationships between Brazil , India and China are inportants and South african TNCs are in these countries but Europe is still the rst economical partner .

c- The weaknesses of the Rainbow Nation

Since the end of the Apartheid in 1991 , South-Africa is a democracy but it is still a developping country . 1 South Africa still depends on European countries and on raw materials exportations . They represent 40% of the SouthAfrican exports. It is typical of the developping countries . 2 Ofcial racial inequalities disapeared but in facts they remain very important . The Gini index measures the inequalities
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between the richest and the poorest people in a country . A 0 means theat there is a perfect equality but a 1 means that there is a perfect inequality . The South-African Gini index was 0,63 in 2009 . It is one of the highest in the world .