Non-governmental organisations are criticised for pandering to the whims of the donor community at the expense of local populations. The real question is: can they bring about real change?
Johannesburg’s night sky with its most densely-populated suburb of Hillbrow in the foreground.
Leon Krige
Accra and Johannesburg have some way to go before making it onto anyone’s top 20. Both cities have a desperate gap between rich and poor but inequality is not a uniquely African problem.
Both Donald Trump and his political opponents are on board the global infrastructure bandwagon.
Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA
The trillions of dollars spent on infrastructure demands democratic transparency and accountability. This applies to both the investment and to the effects on cities, societies and the environment.
The G20 facilitates global engagement but participation can be cumbersome.
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Mega development projects can have a positive impact. But there are risks. Between 2004 and 2013, some 3.4 million people were ‘physically and economically displaced’ by World Bank projects alone.
Those living through the first Renaissance recognised that their age offered blinding possibilities, but that any gains would have to be achieved amid relentless shocks. The same is true today.
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The first Renaissance struggled with the same doubts and uncertainties and blinding possibilities that we face today. Any gains we make will have to be achieved amid relentless shocks.
Kenyans rally for a new constitution in 2010. The constitution guaranteed shared power and resources for 47 county governments.
Reuters/Moses Eshiwani
The Kenyan example illustrates the importance of constitutional guarantees for devolution. But it also shows that devolution is no magic bullet for the problems of corruption and ethnic politics.
Grassroots protesters are questioning the logic of export-led ‘growth’ and renewed fiscal austerity pushed through the ‘Africa rising’ narrative. They want policies that meet their basic needs.
The 82nd Airborne taking part in NATO exercises in Spain.
Paul Hanna/Reuters
No election in recent times has so clearly presented American voters with such a stark choice when it comes to U.S. foreign policy. A guide to the major differences.
Major development banks are funding logging, mining and infrastructure projects that are having enormous impacts on nature. Here, forests are being razed along a newly constructed road in central Amazonia.
William Laurance
Big new investors such as the Asian Infrastructure Development Bank are key players in a worldwide infrastructure, and that could be bad news for the environment.
High-rise buildings amid shacks in Luanda. President Dos Santo has announced plans to retire amid growing unease among Angolans over deepening poverty despite a recent oil boom.
Reuters/Siphiwe Sibeko
Angola’s Dos Santos is buying time. His promise to step down is an attempt to diffuse growing political tensions, as repression continues. He might relinquish his position, but not his power.
Arthur Lewis’ impossible mission was to make possible Kwame Nkrumah’s famous slogan: seek ye first the political kingdom …
Reuters/Sahra Abdi
Nobel laureate and Kwame Nkrumah’s economic adviser Arthur Lewis saw Ghana as a testing ground for his ideas on economic development. But he was met with fierce resistance.
How much will it cost to fumigate the streets of Haiti?
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Professor of International Business Strategy & Emerging Markets at the University of Sussex Business School, and the Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town