Shifting the Goalposts: Postcolonial Africa and the West in the Global “Two Publics” of the Development Paradigm

Abstract

Heretofore, development studies seldom focus on the systemic twists in the market functions and the structural contradictions of capital functionalities that appear to deny African states the opportunity to engage the world as global financial competitors. This article engages the nagging reconstruction of Africa’s development discourse, particularly the debate about the fallout of the global development paradigm that created “two publics” of the West and the “Others.” The classic works of African and Africana political thinkers are explored to thoughtfully situate the position of African states in the contemporary competitive market systems amidst the various distortions in the trade morality and fundamentals. Using a systematic approach and rigorous evidence-based review, the article combines materials and methods from sociological, economic, and political perspectives to scrupulously situate a perceptive case on the continued economic tension that Africa has had to grapple with from a conceivable past to the modern days. The article argued that the global economic order transformed from the mutuality interface that capitalism arguably represents into exploiter/subject relations. The aberration created by the scenario negates the freedom of all, including the impoverished, to trade on equal pedestals, and specifically, made Africa’s economic development forlornly challenging—not necessarily for being a poor player but for the constant shift in the goalposts.