Africa 2025 : hopes for economic take-off

• Alioune SALL
  Coordinator of the Futurs Africains project and of the book Afrique 2025. Quels futurs possibles pour l'Afrique au sud du Sahara ? (Africa 2025. What potential prospects for south Saharan Africa ?)
  
• Jean-Michel DEBRAT
  Deputy managing director, Agence française de développement (French National Development Agency)
  
• Philippe d’IRIBARNE
  Director of research, CNRS
  Author of Le Tiers Monde qui réussit : nouveaux modèles (The Third World which succeeds : new models)
  

Summary

Afrique 2025 (Africa 2025) is the prouct of a think-tank led by Futurs Africains, a United Nations project aimed at development. More than one thousand Africans from forty-six countries, men and women, English-speaking and French-speaking, from varied backgrounds , took part in this 'journey into the future' which resulted in the creation of four scenarios to span the next twenty years. What choice will Africans make between the prospect of maintaining the status quo, of chaos, of development along the lines of the Asian model, or of the admission of Africa into the alliance of nations, thanks to the creation of a genuine, world government ? Does the superiority of relational logic and of the informal economy of the masses constitute a restriction or an opportunity for development ? What does one have to do in order that numerous African entrepreneurs and retailers, who are often very dynamic, can put Africa on the road to development with or without Western aid ?

Summary translated from French by Rachel MARLIN.

• The entire article was written by Élisabeth BOURGUINAT.

To obtain this article, you can :

• download it in French (PDF help) using your password or contact ecopar@paris.ensmp.fr (Reference IN290304).