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on Africa |
| By: | Paczyńska, Agnieszka |
| Abstract: | Since 2014, Russian involvement in Africa has grown significantly. African leaders have been receptive to these overtures as a result of increasing concerns about growing Chinese dominance, retrenchment of the United States (US) and their interest in diversifying trading and security partners. Russia cultivates these relationships by relying on the legacy of the Soviet Union's support for anti-colonial and liberation movements, and focuses on strengthening diplomatic, military and economic collaborations. This analysis shows that: * Overall, Russia's strategy in Africa appears to involve a mix of arms sales, political support to authoritarian leaders and security collaborations - in exchange for mining rights, business opportunities and diplomatic support for Russia's foreign policy preferences. The offers of military assistance and political support, especially for authoritarian leaders, have opened doors to Russian firms and strengthened diplomatic relationships. The support of African allies has been especially important to Russia at the United Nations (UN), where African countries account for a quarter of all votes in the General Assembly. * Russian trade and investment in Africa has grown significantly, particularly in north Africa. Yet, Russia remains a minor economic player on the continent in comparison to China, India or the US. Russia's support for smaller states, especially those that have been internationally shunned, gives Moscow significant influence in those countries. * As of autumn 2019, Russia had concluded military cooperation agreements with 21 African countries and is negotiating the establishment of military bases in a number of states. It is also providing counter-terrorism training. Russia is currently the largest supplier of arms to the continent. * Russia is increasing efforts to influence elections. Its strategy focuses on shoring up authoritarian strongmen in unstable yet resource-rich states thus bolstering these regimes' ability to persist. These priorities are in stark contrast to popular opinion on the continent, which favours democracy. * Russia remains a relatively minor economic and political player on the continent, and European Union (EU) and US concerns that Russian expansion in Africa draws the continent into a broader geopolitical struggle between great powers are overstated. * Germany and the EU should counter Russian assistance to authoritarian leaders by bolstering support for good governance and civil society strengthening initiatives. |
| Date: | 2020 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:diebps:152020&r= |
| By: | Tii N. Nchofoung (University of Dschang, Cameroon); Simplice A. Asongu (Yaoundé, Cameroon) |
| Abstract: | The objective of this study is to evaluate: (i) the effects of infrastructures on CO2 emission and (ii) how trade openness and governance contribute to mitigating these effects. The results from the system GMM methodology for 36 African countries between the 2003-2019 period show that infrastructural development exacerbates CO2 emission in Africa. This result is robust across different types of infrastructural development indexes. When the indirect effect regressions are carried out by interacting governance and trade openness with the different infrastructural development variables, the following results are obtained. Firstly, infrastructural development interacts with governance producing a positive net effect, up to a governance threshold estimate of 0.532 when the positive net effect is nullified. Secondly, infrastructures interact with trade openness producing a negative net effect up to a trade openness threshold of 78.066914 (% of GDP) when the negative net effect is nullified. Positive and negative synergy effects are also apparent. Practical policy implications are discussed based on the results obtained. |
| Keywords: | Infrastructures, CO2, trade openness, governance, Africa, System GMM |
| JEL: | N67 N77 C23 Q56 |
| Date: | 2021–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:agd:wpaper:21/062&r= |
| By: | Alejandro Guerrero-Ruiz; Kadambote Sachin; Julia Schnatz |
| Abstract: | This case study explores whether the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be used as a shared framework by all actors to manage development co‑operation for results in least developed countries, taking Uganda as a case study. The study offers an introduction to Uganda’s progress in mainstreaming the Goals in national policy making, as well as in monitoring the SDG targets and indicators. The report then focuses on the experiences of development co-operation partners in aligning their country-level programmes and frameworks with the SDG framework. It identifies enabling factors, drivers and obstacles that contribute to SDG alignment and monitoring in Uganda. The study concludes with recommendations for both the government and its development partners to increase the collective use of the SDGs as such a framework to improve policy coherence, effectiveness and sustainable impact of all development efforts. |
| Keywords: | Adaptive management, Africa, Agenda 2030, Aggregation, Data, Development co-operation, Development effectiveness, Evidence-based, Harmonisation, Impact, Least Developed Countries, LICs, Performance measurement, Results, Results framework, Results-based management, SDGs, Standard indicators, Statistics |
| JEL: | O19 O2 O20 O21 Z18 |
| Date: | 2021–10–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:dcdaaa:102-en&r= |
| By: | Ksoll, Christopher; Macchiavello, Rocco; Morjaria, Ameet |
| Abstract: | Violent conflicts, particularly at election times in Africa, are a common cause of instability and economic disruption. This paper studies how firms react to electoral violence using the case of Kenyan flower exporters during the 2008 post-election violence as an example. The violence induced a large negative supply shock that reduced exports primarily through workers’ absence and had heterogeneous effects: larger firms and those with direct contractual relationships in export markets suffered smaller production and losses of workers. On the demand side, global buyers were not able to shift sourcing to Kenyan exporters located in areas not directly affected by the violence nor to neighboring Ethiopian suppliers. Consistent with difficulties in insuring against supply-chain risk disruptions caused by electoral violence, firms in direct contractual relationships ramp up shipments just before the subsequent 2013 presidential election to mitigate risk. |
| Keywords: | STICERD |
| JEL: | R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2021–09–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:112128&r= |
| By: | Harriet Brookes Gray; Vis Taraz; Simon D. Halliday |
| Abstract: | As climate change accelerates, the frequency of extreme weather conditions will increase. We assess the impact of rising temperatures and drought on the employment outcomes of working–age individuals in South Africa between 2008 and 2017. We merge high-resolution weather data with panel survey data that contains individual labor market outcomes and estimate causal impacts using a fixed effects framework. We find that drought conditions decrease the likelihood that an individual is employed by approximately 3.2 percentage points. These effects are concentrated in the service sector and in provinces that are more reliant on tourism. The employment outcomes of women, part-time workers, and workers without a high school diploma appear to especially sensitive to drought. Taken together, our results suggest that the impacts of climate change will be felt unequally by South Africa’s workers |
| Date: | 2021–09–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bri:uobdis:21/752&r= |