i think everybody understands that flooding corrupt governments with cash doesn't accomplish anything, except political bribery. it gets a military on the west's side. it doesn't alleviate poverty. this is true whether we're talking about dictatorships or democracies. and while not every government in africa is corrupt, a substantial number of them are rotten beyond any sort of possible redemption - and it takes a lot of corruption for somebody standing in north america to say that.
so, if you look at the three development possibilities - government, co-operatives, markets - it sort of immediately reduces the actual choice to one between co-operatives and markets. and, you know where a good reliable lefty comes down in a discussion between co-operatives and markets.
i think a good strategy would be co-operative oriented. and, my understanding of how the culture in most of africa is inherently suggests it would be difficult for a market strategy to ignore co-operative development. but, at the end of the day co-ops can't do things like build power plants. and, it's those sorts of inputs that are necessary for a seriously co-operative economy.
i think capitalism is fooling itself if it thinks it can swing africa entirely. it just fooled itself into thinking it could swing india entirely. and, we're generally very good at deluding ourselves. but, african capitalism could never be western capitalism. it would necessarily have deep social roots.
however, focusing on private investment seems like the right step forwards to get things moving. and, you don't need a marxist concept of history to realize that. or a nice check from the gates foundation.