Analysing Contemporary Challenges, Pitfalls and Prospects of Intra-African Investment

Lindelwa Beaulender Mhlongo — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Most African states have regained their independence from the colonial powers. Furthermore, Africa has made strides towards achieving sustainable economic development and relations. However, it has yet to benefit from international and intra-African investment agreements. African states are still developing, even though they all develop at different speeds. In this respect, African countries have been endeavouring to regain control of their natural resources and economic space from transnational interests. The question that begs for an answer is: What stands in Africa’s way of achieving sustainable economic development and relations? The article interrogates the challenges, pitfalls and prospects of intra-African investment concerning achieving economic freedom and sustainable relations. In the same breath, it provides suggestions on how to overcome these challenges. In this regard, the article will suggest ways to strengthen the sustainability dimension of international investment agreements, how to preserve appropriate regulatory space for host countries, how to deal with the complexity of a fragmented treaty regime characterised by overlaps and incoherence, and how to infuse the unique challenges Africa faces.

How Imperialism Sabotages African Sovereignty: The Contradictions between Economic Sanctions and Free Trade

Navid Farnia — Mon, 26 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000

This paper highlights how sanctions regimes constitute economic warfare and are thus incompatible with free trade. It centres on the efforts of The International People’s Tribunal on US Imperialism, which held a series of virtual hearings in 2023 to assess the impact of sanctions, blockades and economic coercive measures against various countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America. The participants of the Tribunal documented sanctions’ debilitating impact. As an economic weapon that perpetuates imperialist domination under neocolonial terms, sanctions undermine the power of free trade. This paper details the conclusions derived from the Tribunal to argue that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) cannot succeed under conditions of imperialist economic coercion. Instead, the AfCFTA must be undergirded by a Pan-Africanist and internationalist ideological orientation that enables all African countries to operate on equal terms and as genuine trade partners.

Comparative and International Law Journal of Southern Africa

Analysing Contemporary Challenges, Pitfalls and Prospects of Intra-African Investment

How Imperialism Sabotages African Sovereignty: The Contradictions between Economic Sanctions and Free Trade