Africa is changing rapidly. Cell phones are used to organise cattle-rustling in northern Kenya. A fishing boat registered in Togo fishes illegally in Norwegian waters and sells the catch into Hong Kong. Yet some things have not changed. Despite having roughly 12% of the world's population, Africa still only has around 1% of world trade and GDP. Partly for this reason, some of its states are still subject to limits imposed by structural adjustment programmes (SAPs).
Yet the context in which such SAPs are operating is changing. While the policy probably originated in Russia, Chinese support for the issuance of IMF special drawing rights (SDRs) seems to be part of the shift in economic power to Asia that will probably give African countries a greater say in their own future in international arenas. Prior to the current global economic crisis, the international financial institutions (IFIs) were already beginning to look increasingly irrelevant in the rest of the Global South, as demand for lending was reduced in Asia and Latin America. That meant that they had come to depend institutionally on Africa to justify their existence, while still peddling the same old discredited policies. Now the context for their actions has changed, and they will have to adapt to the new circumstances. The recent changes agreed at the G20 imply a re-invigoration of the IFIs, but only at the cost of a greater weight in policy-making being given to countries outside the G8.
This seismically altering landscape, which will force analysts to rethink, is one of the reasons for changing the Briefings section of ROAPE. Given the growth of access to online information about Africa, this section of the journal would lose much of its rationale if it were not able to respond positively to such major shifts in issues and events and to the reconfiguration of economic and political power. This means that postings in the Briefings section about events and new forms of analysis are required to keep abreast of the profound processes now affecting most African countries.
Among the major changes being faced are the arrival of the peak in world oil production (which seems to have happened already, contrary to mainstream opinion) and the world crisis of food production. These factors will interact with each other. For example, peak oil means that international agribusiness, which depends on oil for fertilisers, pesticides, transport, and storage will become increasingly unviable. Yet the major economies of the world are not responding to this problem, except by treating parts of Africa and elsewhere as sources of land to increase their own food security. The UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) food summit, which ended in Rome in November 2009, agreed that greater emphasis must be placed on food self-sufficiency for the Global South, but failed to agree to fund the annual bill of US$44 billion which the FAO stated was necessary to make this a reality.
While we have a view on what issues affecting Africa will be important in the coming years, the Briefings section is not here to impose an agenda. We shall undoubtedly be surprised at future developments. Contributors are encouraged to send in material on new developments, whether they be resource wars, El Niño, access to information in Africa, or whatever.
Our Briefings are intended to stand out from the ephemera one might find on the internet: more reflective, politically engaged, and better equipped to stand the passing of time. The Briefings section includes debates and perspectives pieces that will allow for people to take a stance and initiate discussion. We welcome pieces of up to 4000 words, which should be sent to our new Briefings Editor, Gary Littlejohn, at email: work@123456garylittlejohn.com.