African power in the 21st century and beyond

Abstract

The paper examines the concept of international power in connection with demographic trends as forecast by the United Nations. It focuses its attention on the situation of Africa, a region projected to become the second largest in terms of population by the turn of the century. The argument to be developed is that the large number of new entrants to labor markets of African countries will likely be deprived of the labor skills necessary to allow them earn a livelihood. The “demographic dividend” will thus be denied and the consequences will be felt not only in Africa but in the world at large, most acutely in Europe. To prevent the rise of this “disruptive” power in Africa the paper offers some novel ideas on how to redesign Official Development Assistance (ODA) so as to promote human capital investment.