Africa’s External Constraints: What Developed Countries Should Do

his is a time of major initiatives by developed countries to reduce external constraints to African development. That is why I am not going to discuss only what the international community should do for Africa but also what the international community is likely to do for Africa, and what Africa has to do to benefit most from these initiatives. It is important to ask whether the international community should do anything for Africa. One interesting reaction by many Africans, in civil society in particular, to the UK Commission for Africa report, for which I helped write several background papers, was that the interna-tional community should let Africa develop on its own. I disagree profoundly. Africa’s relationship with the international community is crucial for its development – and unless those committed to African development speak up loudly, this relationship will be left to those with other much less laudable motives, and its development will be undermined. For this reason, it is also vital to analyse what the interna-tional community should not do. It is also important to look beyond developed countries: at what international institutions and other countries should do, because Africa’s South-South relations are increasingly important. My thoughts are based mainly on the ideas of the 35 low-income African governments we work with extensively, and earlier work I hav