Africa has gone from a backwater (in the West’s eyes) to a region of major geopolitical importance in the last 20 years, and will contribute ever more to the economic, political, and security fate of the world in this generation. The three largest economies – the European Union, the United States, and China – are increasingly competing for influence in Africa, particularly now that China is providing African countries with an alternative partner and model to the West. As such, all three of these economic powers will have to navigate an Africa replete with both opportunity and risk – not only those inherent to the continent itself – but also from the geopolitical implications of competition among one another. In recent years, Africa has demonstrated impressive economic growth, but it nevertheless remains a small market. With the world’s fastest growing population and labor force, Africa can scarcely afford not to sustain its high economic growth rates in order to avoid political instability. There are doubts that Africa can sustain the necessary growth rates to support peaceful and equitable social development. Much of the growth, we posit, comes from rising commodity prices. When looking at Africa’s own governing institutions that are the prerequisite for a competitive economic order, Africa remains heavily dependent on international partners for support. Many unresolved and newly emerging conflicts, including mass migration, add to the skepticism about Africa’s development trajectory.

In addition, the United States, the European Union, and China are increasingly expanding their development cooperation efforts with Africa, not as partners but as competitors. In this competition, the United States and Europe are currently losing ground to China — both in economic terms, and in “soft power” terms. Many factors contribute to this dynamic, including Europe’s historical baggage, military interventions in the fight against communism during the Cold War, Western developmentpolicy dogma after 1990 that was seemingly ineffectual, as well as a general sense that African socioeconomic development is low on the Western World’s list of priorities. Africa accordingly has had good reasons to turn to China — which since 2000 is using development as a tool to expand its own geopolitical footprint.

This new competition in the arena of development-cooperation poses many risks, both for Africa and the system of multilateral development cooperation. We ultimately recommend a renewed commitment to multilateralism in development cooperation with Africa by all three of the major global economic actors: The United States, the European Union, and China. Additionally, the European Union and the United States need to learn from their past mistakes and engage with Africa more openly and creatively. The West should also capitalize more on its soft-power advantages and expand more integrated approaches to development assistance. Such approaches will invariably require broadening the traditional scope of development assistance to involve multipliers like the private sector, whose involvement is indispensable in order to achieve international goals of sustainable development. The West should also focus attention on supporting ever more regional and continental African integration, including channeling support for African-led initiatives.