Charting a New Course: Globalisation, African Recovery and the New African Initiative

Image: Flickr, PROAndrew Smith
Image: Flickr, PROAndrew Smith

The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) has, in the few short months since its drafting in Abuja in October 2001, become the accepted blueprint for the recovery of a continent dismissed by The Economist as ‘hopeless’.

The ambitious programme has been adopted by the African Union and is supported by the G-8, thus establishing, in principle, the basis for the ‘partnership’ that conceptually sets NEPAD apart from the 18 African recovery plans that have preceded it.

Within a week of the adoption of NEPAD by African leaders, the South African and Finnish Institutes of International Affairs convened a conference in Cape Town to unpack NEPAD and provide a public platform for key stakeholders to contribute to the development of the African recovery plan.

This book is the outcome of that conference and places NEPAD within the broader context of globalisation and African recovery. Beyond explaining a number of the key themes within NEPAD, the contributors address a number of the core challenges facing not only African leadership, but also all who would contribute to this profoundly important programme for the renewal of the continent.

The views expressed in this publication/article are those of the author/s and do not necessarily reflect the views of the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA).