Synopsis
The George W. Bush administration maintains that in sub-Saharan Africa it is making major new contributions in fighting disease, promoting development, fostering democracy, and promoting peace. Yet, despite the rhetoric, is the Bush Administration really working to bring about a fairer and more just Africa?
Though aid has increased and a major AIDS initiative launched, Copson argues that US policy in Africa falls well short of meeting reasonable standards of fairness or justice. Foreign aid is losing its focus on development as political priorities come to the fore; U.S. barriers to African exports remain substantial; and the AIDS program is in danger of flagging due to unilateralism and ideological controversy. An increasingly military approach to fighting the 'Global War on Terror' in Africa and securing energy imports carries serious risks for the region. Copson concludes by assessing the prospects of a more equitable policy emerging in future administrations.
About the Authors
Raymond W. Copson is an independent scholar specializing in African affairs and U.S. relations with Africa. He teaches at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and at the George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs. Copson is editor of the Online Africa Policy Forum at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Until 2005, he worked at the Congressional Research Service of the US Library of Congress. He has previously lectured in international relations at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, and the University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
Alcinda Honwana is visiting professor of anthropology and international development at the Open University (UK). She was chair in international development at the Open University and taught anthropology at the University Eduardo Mondlane in Maputo, University of Cape Town and the New School in New York. She was also programme director at the Social Science Research Council in New York. Honwana has written extensively on the links between political conflict and culture and on the impact of violent conflict on children and youth, conducting research in Mozambique, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, Colombia and Sri Lanka. Her latest work has been on youth transitions and social change in Africa, focusing on Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia. Alcinda Honwana's latest publications include: The Time of Youth: Work, social change, and politics in Africa, 2012; Child Soldiers in Africa, 2006; and Makers and Breakers: Children and youth in postcolonial Africa, 2005 (co-edited). She was awarded the prestigious Prince Claus Chair in Development and Equity in the Netherlands in 2008.
Alex de Waal is Executive Director of the World Peace Foundation and a research professor at Tufts University. During 2009-11 he served as senior advisor to the African Union High Level Implementation Panel for Sudan and Program Director at the Social Science Research Council. His academic research has focused on issues of famine, conflict and human rights in Africa including. He was awarded an OBE in the UK New Year's Honors List of 2009, was on the Prospect/Foreign Policy list of 100 public intellectuals in 2008, and the Atlantic Monthly list of 27 'brave thinkers' in 2009.
After studying history at London University, Richard Dowden taught as a volunteer in Uganda in 1971-2. On his return to Britain he worked for a peace organisation in Northern Ireland and then became a journalist, becoming editor of the Catholic Herald in 1976 and joining The Times foreign desk in 1980 travelling extensively in Africa. He became Africa Editor at the Independent at its foundation in 1986 and in 1995 he was invited to join The Economist as Africa Editor. He left The Economist to work as a freelance journalist and writer and in 2003 he became Director of the Royal African Society. He has made three full length documentaries on Africa for Channel 4 and the BBC and also several shorter films and appears frequently as a commentator on African affairs on the BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera, Sky News and other media. His book: Africa: Altered States, Ordinary Miracles was published by Portobello Books in September 2008. He is married with two daughters and lives in London.
Chair of the Publications Committee, International African Institute
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