Project Syndicate published on 14 February 2023 a commentary titled "Can the West Woo Africa?" by Ana Palacio, former minister of foreign affairs of Spain and former senior vice president of the World Bank Group and now a visiting lecturer at Georgetown University.
The author makes the argument that while Western countries failed to engage with Africa, Russia and China were actively deepening their ties.
Comment: While there is some validity in this argument, it is an exaggerated account of the failure of Western policy in Africa and ignores important downsides of Russian and Chinese efforts to curry favor on the continent. The author fails to mention the much higher Western humanitarian and development aid levels and foreign direct investment stock than that from China and Russia combined and makes no mention of China's economic conditionality or Russia's almost nonexistent contribution to Africa's economic development.
