Ian Taylor - Africa Rising?: Brics - Diversifying Dependency

Africa is said to be rising, turning a definitive page in its history, heralding new and exciting possibilities for the continent. This discourse maintains that with upsurge in economic growth comes improved governance and endogenous dynamics; that the emerging economies, and especially the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India China, South Africa], have been instrumental in diversifying Africas international relations, perhaps leading to a radical change in the global order, favourable to the developing world. But to what extent is this true, and how deep and how broad has been the impact on society at large?

This book takes a critical look at the prevalent Africa Rising discourse, and explores the nature and implications of Africas rise and the role that the BRICS have played in it. The author argues that Africa has still to undergo any structural transformation; that there is strong evidence that deindustrialisation and jobless growth have accompanied the upsurge of interest in the continent; and that far from making a radical turn in its developmental trajectory, Africa is being pushed into the resource corner as commodity exporters, to the North (and now, the BRICS) with little scope for industrial progress or skills advancement. Hope that the BRICS might offer an alternative to the extant neoliberal order are misplaced, for the BRICS have a stake in maintaining the current unequality. Africa must therefore fashion its own independent path while the emerging economies will be important, relying on external actors may simply reproduce anew the current state of underdevelopment.

Ian Taylor is Professor in International Relations and African Politics, University of St Andrews; Chair Professor, Renmin, University of China; Professor Extraordinary, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa; Honorary Professor, Institute of African Studies, Zhejiang Normal University, China; and a Visiting Scholar at Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Uganda.

*forthcoming

The Development State* MAIA GREEN

Africa Rising? IAN TAYLOR

Losing your Land AN ANSOMS & THEA HILHORST (EDS)

Chinas Aid & Soft Power in Africa KENNETH KING

South Africas Gold Mines & the Politics of Silicosis JOCK MCCULLOCH

From the Pit to the Market DIANE FROST

Sudan Looks East DANIEL LARGE & LUKE A. PATEY (EDS)

The Front Line Runs Through Every Woman ELEANOR OGORMAN

The Root Causes of Sudans Civil Wars DOUGLAS H. JOHNSON

Zimbabwes Land Reform IAN SCOONES, NELSON MARONGWE, BLASIO MAVEDZENGE, JACOB MAHENEHENE, FELIX MURIMBARIMBA & CHRISPEN SUKUME

Identity Economics KATE MEAGHER

The Ethiopian Red Terror Trials KJETIL TRONVOLL, CHARLES SCHAEFER & GIRMACHEW ALEMU ANEME (EDS)

Diamonds, Dispossession & Democracy in Botswana KENNETH GOOD

Peace without Profit JOSEPH HANLON

The Lie of the Land MELISSA LEACH & ROBIN MEARNS (EDS)

Fighting for the Rainforest PAUL RICHARDS

Published in the US & Canada by Indiana University Press

Gender & Genocide in Burundi PATRICIA O. DALEY

Guns & Governance in the Rift Valley KENNEDY MKUTU

Becoming Somaliland MARK BRADBURY

Undermining Development SARAH MICHAEL

Letting them Die CATHERINE CAMPBELL

Somalia PETER D. LITTLE

Asbestos Blues JOCK MCCULLOCH

Killing for Conservation ROSALEEN DUFFY

Mozambique & the Great Flood of 2000 FRANCES CHRISTIE & JOSEPH HANLON

Angola TONY HODGES

Congo-Paris JANET MACGAFFEY & REMY BAZENGUISSA-GANGA

Africa Works PATRICK CHABAL & JEAN-PASCAL DALOZ

The Criminalization of the State in Africa JEAN-FRANOIS BAYART, STEPHEN ELLIS & BEATRICE HIBOU

Famine Crimes ALEX DE WAAL

This book is dedicated to Professor Philip Nel of the University of Otago; past supervisor and mentor, and to whose academic qualities I have always aspired

In the course of my research I have had the privilege of visiting a number of institutions, in Africa, in the BRICS countries and elsewhere. In particular, I would like to acknowledge, in Brazil: the comments, criticisms and advice provided by staff and students at the BRICS Policy Center, Rio de Janeiro; the Institute of International Relations at PUC-Rio; and the Department of International Relations, PUC-Minas; in India: the Centre for African Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University; the Department of African Studies, University of Delhi; the India International Centre; the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses; and the Open Research Foundation; in China: the Centre for African Studies, University of Peking; School of International Studies, Renmin University of China; Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy, Tsinghua University; the Institute of African Studies, Zhejiang Normal University; and the Institute of West Asian and African Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences; in South Africa: the University of Cape Town; the University of Stellenbosch; the Centre for Chinese Studies; and the Trade Law Centre for Southern Africa (TRALAC). In Russia, Aleksandra Arkhangelskaya and Vladimir Shubin, both of the Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, have been very helpful in enabling me to shape my ideas about Russo-African relations.

I am very grateful to the following funders who supported this work: Marco Polo Santander Award, Saferworld, Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange, the Chinese Ministry of Education, the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland and the Kemp Family.

Pdraig Carmody of Trinity College, Dublin, gave extensive and very helpful insights and comments on an earlier draft buochas a ln Pdraig!

Finally, I would like to thank Jo, Blythe and Archie for both accompanying me on extended visits to China and different parts of Africa and for also allowing me to disappear (all too frequently) to the continent.

Ian Taylor