African’s Living Condition and Its Complicated Prospect vis-à-vis the Existing Global Standards the West Set

The end of World War Two (WWII) ushered in a global politico-economic order created by powerful state and non-state actors in the Western hemisphere. At the heart of the hitherto institutionalized system rests the idea that secures and protects the political and economic interests of the leading highly industrial countries and Multi-National Corporates (MNCs). Over the last several decades since its establishment, the existing equation of the global politico-economic standard has been making richer and richer the advanced West and poorer and poorer Africa. This piece highlights the underscoring fact that Africa’s living standard and the prospect of change for the better remains slim under the current greedy global standard the powerful West set.

Understanding the Ruling Global Politico-Economic Order

The United States of America emerged triumphant under the ruins of the catastrophically damaged West saving it from irreversible collapse. It soon regrouped the ravaged Europe through massive support, such as the Marshal Plan- a comprehensive program to rebuild Europe, and introduced a new World Order it has since been at its helm uncontested and others follow duly.

In the mid-1940s, under the strong leading role Washington played, the West consented to concert efforts to a transcending political order that secured a shared economic interest through the creation of the Bretton Woods System. Widely known as the new politico-economic order, the post-WWII world would fall under the expansive regimes of the International Monitory Fund (IMF), World Bank (WB), and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) which later was replaced by the World Trade Organization (WTO).

At their current status, these powerful institutions govern the entire politico-economic ecosystem of our planet with an incomparable advantage they generate to the Global North by far. The WTO, for instance, governs ninety percent of world trade as the most effective tool of liberalization that favors the Western states and MNCs largely owned by the West. In a similar fashion, the IMF's prime focus has been on lending money to developing countries as an effective tool for channeling the dictating politico-economic behaviors of powerful state and non-state actors in the West. Developing countries that are members of the IMF are expected to adopt the political and economic preferences of the leading industrial countries to borrow money to their detriment. Both these international organizations are, arguably, political institutions ruling the post-WWII order where economy and finance serve as their currencies.

A Dichotomy of a Developed vs. Developing World and the West’s Economic İnterest

Understanding the perpetuating features of the reigning politico-economic order is key to understanding two vital objectives the post-WWII Western powers stand for and work tirelessly to address.  The objectives comprise making the “developed”-West richer and richer as well as keeping the “developing world” under a controlled poor living standard.

Over several decades since the aftermath of WWII the circle of countries identified as “developed/advanced/industrialized” remained largely the same in number. Interestingly it neither increased nor decreased. This is attributed to two key factors. On the one hand, there exist unfair parameters set by institutions (or/and non-state actors) established and funded by the same developed states headquartered in the West. Their publications never changed in terms of categorizing the world on a line of rich and poor where the West has always been developed marking virtually the same countries over several decades.  On the other hand, there are endless and complicated efforts that the same advanced states and the MNCs they shield to keep the remaining part of the world, Africa in particular, under a status quo and just “developing.”

The dichotomized world, the West created in its image and keeps ruling puts the naturally rich African nation in a sphere of complicated political and economic conditions. The ensuing paragraphs highlight two commonplace points to briefly explain how the West contributes to Africa’s perpetuating poverty and grows them richer and richer.

First comes the West’s role led principally by the United States to keep African dictators in power and help them loot the continent, according to Cohen a former Assistant Secretary of State for Africa. The longevity of Africa’s ruthless rulers and their coordinated endless looting of the continent has for long been enabled by the West. And most importantly, aided by the West’s banks such as Switzerland’s UBS, Africa’s looted wealth has been deposited in Europe and America through illicit financial flows, the Brookings Institution reported.

Second comes the continued major role the West has been playing in keeping the African nation in a vicious cycle of conflicts. Major powers in the West bear huge responsibilities for the state of intra- and interstate instabilities the continent of Africa has been suffering from ever since the end of colonization. Without the West’s weapons and cash support to belligerents, Africa would have likely been in less armed conflict and a more peaceful situation. Reports have that this dire condition will like to continue for a foreseeable period importantly because a conflict-ridden and poor Africa is easy to control. And, it easier to channel the continent’s natural resources abroad which supply the manufacturing in the West cheaply.     

Unfavorable System for the Continent’s Living Standards

As far as the existing medium of political and economic interactions at the global level endures, it remains unfavorable for Africa to change its population's longstanding poor living standard. And, several key indicators support that the post-WWII international order that unfairly favors the broader Global North remains strong for several other decades to come. On the other hand, the States and indigenous non-state actors in Africa keep facing growing challenges due to the unfair treatment of the exclusive and greedy world order.

Simple as that, for instance, African countries are obliged to diminish their purchasing power capacity in order to access debts from the IMF. Over the last few months alone Egypt, Africa’s third most populous country, was compelled to devaluate its currency for an $8 billion IMF loan program by nearly 67 percent. Another Africa’s most populous country, Ethiopia, bowed to the IMF’s pressure to access a loan of $10.7bn from the IMF and World Bank, and its Birr has depreciated by 60 percent against the US dollar as of August 2024.

The cumulative damage such mistreatment endangers will be reflected both in short and long term on the continent’s living standard. Despite the African nation has for long been struggling to elevate the poor living conditions amidst endless instabilities, the West’s measures to maintain their living standards through the existing unfair and repressive global order make the prospect for changes quite complicated.  

References

The Reconstruction of the International Economic Order After the Second World War…: https://www.jstor.org/stable/40750364

Herman J Cohen (2015): The Mind of the African Strongman: Conversations with Dictators, Statesmen, and Father Figures- https://books.google.com.tr/books/about/The_Mind_of_the_African_Strongman.html?id=ss2FrgEACAAJ&redir_esc=y

The systems that support corruption in Africa: https://www.gisreportsonline.com/r/corrupt-leaders-africa/

Illicit financial flows in Africa- Drivers, destinations, and policy options: https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Illicit-financial-flows-in-Africa.pdf