Imperialism and Dependency: Obstacles to African Development

The author sees the two related and persistent phenomena of imperialism and dependency as the crucial factors of underdevelopment in Africa, and in the developing world generally. He argues that foreign aid aggravates historical dependency stemming from imperialism and now rooted in poverty, and that the neo-liberal economic order, which promotes investment driven growth by the so- called multi-nationals, compounds the problem. He focuses on the role played by the CIA in the US in promoting the interests of the multinational or rather American dominated companies in underdeveloped areas of the world, in service of the US national economic interest. These processes depend on the collaborating bourgeoisie of the developing world who benefit, to the detriment of meaningful grassroots-led development.