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The publication is the latest in the African Studies in Russia series of compilations and contains full articles and annotations of the most important - from the point of view of editors - works of Russian Africanists over a certain period. The authors work at the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).The present issue covers the years 2014 to 2016 and consists of two sections. The first section presents conceptual articles on Africa published in authoritative journals. The second section offers synopses of books by Russian authors on economics, cultural anthropology, social and political development, gender studies, and international relations of African countries.The main objective of the triennial series of compilations is to introduce new findings of Russian Africanists to interested foreign scholars who do not speak Russian.

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African Studies

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Publié par	MeaBooks Inc
Date de parution	29 décembre 2017
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781988391076
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	4 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0900€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES INSTITUTE FOR AFRICAN STUDIES

AFRICAN STUDIES IN RUSSIA Works of the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Yearbook 2014–2016

MOSCOW Institute for African Studies RAS 2017

Editorial Board R.V. Dmitriev (Editor-in-chief) I.O. Abramova, D.M. Bondarenko, L.L. Fituni Editors: L.L. Fituni and I.O. Abramova Translation from Russian by S.V. Kostelyanets, N.A. Voronina This Edition: © MEABOOKS Inc. ISBN: 978-1-988391-06-9 (print) ISBN: 978-1-988391-07-6 (eBook) MEABOOKS Inc. 34 CH. DU BOISE LAC-BEAUPORT QC G3B 2A5 CANADA www.meabooks.comISBN 978-5-91298-202-6 © Institute for African Studies RAS, 2017 © Authors, 2017 © Abisheva G.M., design, 2017

CONTENTSArticles Irina Abramova.Potential of the African Continent in the Updated Strategy of Development of the Russian Federation …………………… 4 Irina Abramova, Leonid Fituni.The Economic Attractiveness and Investment Potential of Sub-Saharan Africa …………………………… 15 Dmitri Bondarenko.Global Governance and Diasporas: The Case of African Migrants in the USA …………………………………………… 32 Tatyana Denisova.The “Wave of Democratisation” and Electoral Processes in Sub-Saharan Africa ………………………………………. 50 Ruslan Dmitriev, Ivan Zakharov.Inter-Communal Conflict in Nigeria as a Result of Religious Polarisation of the African Population 59 Leonid Fituni, Irina Abramova.AReserve Army of ISIS: Resources and Manoeuvre………………………………………………………….. 66 Valentina Gribanova.Students from the Countries of North Africa in the Russian Higher Schools: Problems of Adaptation ………………. 77 Vladimir Pavlov.BRICS: China’s New Models for Stimulating Eco-nomic Development and Modernisation in the Least Developed Coun-tries of Africa …………………………………………………….. 82 Anatoly Savateev.Prophets of Islam in Tropical Africa – the Fathers of Civilizational Identity ……………………………………………….. 93 Alexey Vasiliev.Arab Revolutions and the Protest Movement: Causes, Driving Forces, and Results …………………………………… 98 Nataliya Zherlitsyna.The Orthodox GreekCommunity in Tunisia Under the Auspices of the Russian Empire (With Reference to AVPRI). 105 Synopsis Economic Studies ……………………………………………………… 110 Sociological And Political Studies …………………………………….. 114 International Studies …………………………………………………… 116 Socio-Cultural Studies ………………………………………………… 122 Gender Studies ………………………………………………………… 128 North African Studies ………………………………………………… 130 Tropical African Studies ……………………………………………… 135 Southern African Studies ……………………………………………… 138

ARTICLES Irina Abramova POTENTIAL OF THE AFRICAN CONTINENT IN THE UPDATED STRATEGY OF DEVELOPMENT OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

At present, the horizons for the development of the Russian economy are largely constrained by the narrowing potential and gradual exhaustion of the current model of economic development, still largely based on the exports of raw materials and other primary products. The mistaken choice by post-Soviet reformers of an unlimited reliance on future foreign investment and the good will of the global market brought about broad-scale deindustrialisa-tion and a historically unprecedented outflow of national wealth and capital, aggravated by ever increasing external political and military pressure and Western economic sanctions. According to expert estimates, the combined costs of financial sanctions and the fall in oil prices cost Russia about 0.6 trillion dollars over 2014–2017 period. In these conditions the goals of development strategy outlined by the President of Russia underscore the necessity of an immediate real restructur-ing of the economy on the basis of its innovative modernisation and diversifi-cation. A significant role in the formation of such a mechanism can be played by the intensification of economic activity in the markets of those countries which today are more open and inclined to cooperate with Russia, on the one hand, and have significant resource and growth prospects, on the other. In my opinion African countries belong to such category. So far, the current Russian strategies of economic development have been employing the opportunities provided by African markets for the purposes of the recovery and diversification of domestic manufacturing, the construction industry, the infrastructure, and the services sector to rather a small extent. Meanwhile, the African track opens a window of opportunity to restore and boost industries, other than those of the primary sector, in Russia, as well as to sharpen skills and upgrade mechanisms of penetration into highly competitive developed and transition economies. This is exactly what China did in the 1980s and 1990s when it was only about to become a global economic power. Over the recent years the leading world powers and the centres of eco-nomic power came to realise that the resources and human and economic potential of Africa are of high value for the world economy and the new 4

model of global development now in formation. It follows that all the coun-tries which claim to be global actors in the international arena and future world economy are expanding into the African market, rich in resources and mineral reserves. Their objective is to secure their global positions by invest-ing into the emerging economic chains. Such an approach allows to go be-yond trade relations with African countries, and to gain a foothold in Africa for the future, guaranteeing an inflow of a substantial amount of the conti-nent’s exclusive resources for their own, including innovative, development in the new economic environment. Today the old and new actors of the world economy have engaged into tough geo-economic and geo-political scramble for Africa. The apples of discord are natural resources, growing markets, human resources, and the sympathy of the most rapidly growing continent. Political gains also matter as they add to economic co-operation with Africa. African states make up almost a quarter of the voting members at the UN and other organisations. Their support is an important strategic reserve in the global diplomatic arena, vital for the establishment of a joint force in the process of restructuring ex-isting institutions, mechanisms, and structures of global governance, and al-tering the balance of power in the world.The economic weight of Africa is on the rise. Over the last few years, ma-jor thinktanks, consulting and rating agencies, investment banks and research st centres from many countries have repeatedly stated that the 21 century will see Africa as the most rapidly developing region – a region that will define the pattern and the growth rate of developed countries. This will also have a bearing on the issues of raw materials, energy resources, and human capital. The penetration into African markets and the synergy between the Old World and Africa are necessary goals for Europe if it is to retain its geopolitical st weight and maintain living standards on the same level as in the 21 century. For China, Russia, and other BRICS countries, as well as the United States (US), both resources and geopolitics rankhigh on the national agenda, which makes it essential to co-operate with Africa. In recent years, Africa has no longer been considered a backward region on the periphery of the world. Globalisation accounted for a rapid growth of size, diversity, inter-connectedness, and inter-dependence at the levels of state and of interpersonal relations alike. This resulted in a shift in the world economy, with countries swapping their roles and inequality being fossilised as a new global economic model takes shape. Brought by globalisation, the current trends in the world economy put Af-th rican countries on the backfoot. With the changes in the late 20 century, the

role of Africa saw no changes for the better. To make matters worse, the Af-rican share in the international markets shrankeven further and the continent stood little chance of ‘plugging in’ the world economy on an equal footing. As developed countries transitioned to a post-industrial and innovative deve-lopment model, Africa’s economy fell further behind. True, as for macroeco-nomic indicators and HDI, most African countries are still lagging behind (in st the early 21 century the share of the continent constituted just under 2% of the global GDP, the figures for trade and investments being 3% and 5% re-spectively). st However, during the first decade of the 21 century, despite a global fi-nancial and economic crisis, Africa’s role in the world economy started to change. [Continue the paragraph.]Over the period from 2001 to 2004, Afri-ca’s economy grew at one of the highest rates in the world. Even the consid-erable global economic slowdown in 2007–2010 had only minor negative impact on GDP growth in most African countries.In terms of GDP growth, over the last 15 years Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has been second only to East Asia. From 2001 to 2014, 9 Sub-Saharan econ-omies grew by at least 7% annually. In 2013, Sub-Saharan GDP grew by 5.2%. In 2014 it increased by 4.7%, the slight slowdown due a fall in fossil fuel prices. Meanwhile, the Sub-Saharan growth rate was far above the aver-age for the world (3.5%) or the developing countries (4.3%). The year 2015–2016 saw a less optimistic macroeconomic performance on the African continent, which could be explained by the global slowdown, a further fall in prices for raw material and fossil fuel, and a decline in de-mand for African products, combined with a slew of political crises and a rise of terrorist threat. The average growth rate in SSA fell to 3.1% in terms of nominal prices and to 3.3% in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP) in 2015, with the cor-responding figures (estimates) in 2016 being 1.5% and 1.7% respectively. A number of SSA countries, namely Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Tanzania, and Rwanda, managed to retain a rather high, if lower than before, growth rate of 7–9%. Over the past two decades, the countries of SSA have formed an econo-mic area that in terms of its pace of development and growing political and economic influence is approaching that of “emerging” countries with develo-ping market economies, notably the BRICS countries. An array of Western think tanks (MSCI, Economist Intelligence Unit, McKinsey and Ernst and Young) hold that the investment climate in Africa is gradually getting more attractive compared to the Chinese and Indian ones. The forecast of the

World Bankthat “just li predicts ke China 30 years ago and India 20 years ago, the African continent is about to “take off”. The perception of Africa as a poverty-stricken and backward continent with dire prospects does not cor-respond to reality any longer. True, a lot is yet to be done. Yet step by step SSA is catching up. The rating agency Standard and Poor’s lists markets with the most favou-rable investment climate. The section Frontier Emerging Markets (37 coun-tries in total) includes 8 SSA countries, namely Botswana, Ivory Coast, Gha-na, Kenya, Mauritius, Namibia, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe. Some experts expect the average GDP growth rate in SSA to level off at 5–7% in the coming decade (from 2020 onwards). Western thinktanks (EY, RAND, FUTURES, just to name a few) forecast that if the current economic and demographic macro-trends remain in place by 2050, the African econo-my will stand every chance of soaring from $2 trillion to $29 trillion to over-take the US and Europe combined. The estimates (Rand, Stanford University, Shanghai Military University and Research Institute) are that from 2030 onwards Africa (as a whole) will turn into theglobal strategic reserve of raw materials second to none. First and foremost, the issue on the table is reserves of strategic and military rele-vance, indispensable for the military and strategic development in the st 21 century. If we consider non-ferrous and rare metals, indispensable in, say, the production of engines for long-range bombers, we find that the US mili-tary industrial complex imports over 50% of rare metals from SSA (DRC, Zimbabwe). In fact, the figure for cobalt is 75 per cent. Another reason why the relevance of the African economy is on the rise is thatthe African population is growing rapidly and its demographic compo-sition is undergoing drastic changes. In 2009, the population of Africa ex-ceeded 1 billion and its growth rate is the highest on the planet. By 2020, the African labour force will surpass 700 million, and by 2050,1.5 billion. We have to understand that, in several decades, Africa will define the demo-graphic and social world map. These are general estimates of Western researchers, clarifying why the leading economic hubs have engaged in a “Scramble for Africa” in the early st 21 century. [Continue the paragraph.] All the countries which follow the trend and have already been yielding or are just at the point of starting to yield “the African dividend” (as they benefit from their co-operation with countries of the African continent) will manage to avoid marginalisation in the world economy. Let us give more thought to the words of one of the former Chinese leaders, who said that 15%

of China’s economic success comes from the efficient co-operation with Af-rica. Africa has embarked on the taskof attracting foreign investors, ensuring a more favourable investment climate. The estimates are that in the decade to come foreign investment-oriented policy will add about 2% to the African GDP. Western countries, which had been the first to gain a foothold in the region, changed the discourse on co-operation with Africa. The focus was shifted from “development aid” to “partnership”, i.e. joint exploitation of resources to tap into the potential of the continent on a mutually beneficial basis. New actors go neckto neckwith the Western economic centres. Africa is highly attractive for foreign investors since the return on invest-ment in Africa is tangibly higher than that in other developing areas. In 2015, the African share in the global foreign direct investment (FDI) accounted for 8%, with the number of investment projects implemented on the African soil reaching 705 (4% from all the investment projects in the world). The 2010s are showing a trend towards a higher share of SSA in the total FDI, with Nigeria, South Africa, Mozambique, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Ca-meroon, Kenya, Ghana, Uganda, and Tanzania contributing the most. Transnational companies from developing countries build up their activi-ties in Africa, with developed countries still ruling the roost. In terms of total investment, in 2015 the first place went to Italy, which was followed by the US and Great Britain. With its FDI relatively small, China, however, stands out for creating new jobs for Africa. Thus, 32 investment projects imple-mented by China in 2015 created 14,127 jobs. When it comes to how investments are distributed between industries, new trends take shape, i.e. the share of fossil fuel is in decline and the share of manufacturing and service is on the rise, with the services sector account-ing for over 75% of the total FDI. A graphic example here is investments in energy, mostly renewable, which in 2015 matched those in mining in abso-lute value and in percentage alike. As far as the structure of FDI is concerned, the biggest part is made up by manufacturing, IT, and education – the branches vital for economic moderni-sation and catching up with the emerging model of the world development. However, the mining industry is still there to attract FDI, since it takes time to diversify investments and switch to cutting-edge industries. Urbanisa-tion coupled with the emerging middle class brings to the table wholesale and retail trade. Presently, over 150 projects are being implemented in the sectors of IT, telecommunications, trade, and consumer goods, and a further 120 – in

the financial sector. All in all, these account for a hefty 50% of all the pro-jects funded by FDI. China is a role model for other governments to promote national compa-nies across Africa. Unlike European states, which are focused on financial and credit services and ODA, China places emphasis on trade and invest-ment. A rising economic power undergoing a trade and investment boom, China has become a competitive alternative to Western countries. At the second international conference on the development of African markets convened by UNDP in Abidjan on 28–30 March 2017, most African leaders, ministers and businessmen mentioned the immense Chinese contribution to the socio-economic development of Africa. China’s active and highly beneficial co-operation with Africa pushed oth-er developing countries to build up their activities on the continent. In parti-cular, these include India, with a trade turnover with Africa of over $60 bil-lion, and Turkey and Brazil with $20 billion and $17 billion respectively. In general, our foreign partners have set up effective state institutes and foundations designed to support national business on African soil. Until re-cent times, France had the Ministry of Co-operation with former colonies. The US set up the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), with a range of programmes hammered out and put into practice – a case in point is a programme on improving trade relations with SSA (Afri-can Growth and Opportunity Act – AGOA). China, India, and Turkey deve-loped state institutions and financial agencies aimed at developing and en-couraging co-operation with African states. This is how public-private part-nership serves the national interest. These days African states are shaping new approach in their relations with the rest of the world, pursuing more beneficial international economic co-operation. African leaders have come to realizes that, given the current popu-lation of the continent and the population growth, there is an opportunity to transform Africa into an influential economic union and an immensely big common market, but for that they need to develop a synergistic approach. It is high time that Russia followed suit with a clear understanding of how it can benefit from this co-operation in geo-political and geo-economic terms, how such co-operation may help Russia to achieve its objectives, i.e. to strengthen its position in the international arena, to boost its economy, and to raise the living standards of Russian citizens. It is feasible to achieve all these goals provided that we arrange political and economic co-operation with the African continent in a wise and sensible