Africa Up Close

 April’s Last Word

“Looking Back at AGOA’s History to Inform its Future”

by Steve McDonald, Director, Africa Program and the Project on Leadership and Building State Capacity

Recently, I gave a presentation on Capitol Hill on the development and hopefully continued support for the African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA (Title I, Trade and Development Act of 2000; P.L. 106–200). AGOA was approved by the U.S. Congress in May 2000 and then signed into law by President Clinton with the purpose to assist the economies of sub-Saharan Africa and to improve economic relations between the United States and the region.   The original language of the bill touted trade and investment as not only promoting economic development, but for encouraging broad participation in a political process in “which freedom can flourish.”  It stated:

“Increased trade and investment flows have the greatest impact in an economic environment in which trading partners eliminate barriers to trade and capital flows and encourage the development of a vibrant private sector that offers individual African citizens the freedom to expand their economic opportunities and provide for their families.”

By Steve McDonald
Director, the Africa Program and the Project on Leadership and Building State Capacity 

This month has seen some remarkable events on the continent, all with wide ranging implications.  They include the death of the “novelist laureate” of Africa, Chinua Achebe, the seizure of Bangui by rebels and flight of the president in the Central African Republic (CAR), the arrest of former Zambian President Rubiah Banda, the constitutional referendum in Zimbabwe, and the first round of the Kenyan elections.

By Steve McDonald
Director, Africa Program and Leadership Project, The Wilson Center

I want to remark this month on the directions of U.S. policy on Africa under the new Administration team in Washington, but I would like to begin by a little self- examination of our blog and an appeal to readers.   A review of the outreach that Africa UP Close has made is revealing.  Since January, we have had a total of 2,025 visits, with 264 new visitors.  That almost doubles our total of 1,081 total visits in the last three months of 2012.  Quantitative measure is an important gauge, so we are very pleased that so many readers are clicking on us.  Just this month, we will undergo another major design and format change, which should make this site an even more useable and useful product.  And you can now follow us on Twitter where we will engage our followers in online discussion and debates.

By Steve McDonald

There has been palpable excitement in Washington, DC since the November election that reached a crescendo as we approached the second inauguration of President Obama, which took place just yesterday, as I write this.  Of course, the question on the minds of all Africans and Africa watchers is, “What does this mean for our continent?” Well, President Obama’s eloquent inauguration address didn’t give any hints.  He dwelled on domestic issues, constitutional construction, and policy deadlock, as he urged all Americans to come together in expanding the economic recovery, putting in place national health care policies, and addressing gun violence.   His only real reference to foreign affairs was to say that a “decade of war” was coming to an end.  Africa did not cross his lips.

Is this good news or bad?  What does it augur for the coming four years?