Fall 2006, Volume 2
Dear Readers,
Following in the footsteps of the extremely successful inaugural launch, we are proud and thrilled to present to you the Fall 2006 issue of the Africa Policy Journal (APJ). Deciding to produce both a fall and spring issue has been a challenge but, nonetheless, one we hope that you, as a reader, find worthwhile and that this issue will leave you in anticipation to read our upcoming spring content. We are humbled by the overwhelmingly positive response to the APJ, a response which bears testament to the momentum for Africa’s development and the need for sound policies to continually emerge. “Sound” does not necessarily mean “conventional.” In that respect, our role is to promote the most relevant, informed and analytically rigorous ideas, with a vision for better policymaking in Africa.
Africa is poised to take off. China’s eye towards Africa has given the continent new leverage on different economic and political levels. Whether Africa stands to gain or lose from such developments is yet to be seen. In this regard, we take our role as a clearinghouse for these ongoing discussions seriously. The preponderance of high-quality submissions makes our work as editors exciting, yet difficult; however, it also affords us the ability to be highly selective. Throughout the selection process, the committee considered relevance, timeliness, strength of arguments, quality of writing, and geographic diversity.
The Fall 2006 issue commences with a commentary from former U.S. Asst. Secretary of State George Moose examining China’s deepening relationship with Africa and one by Marianna Ofosu discussing ways of leveraging the African Diaspora.
It is our privilege to share with you two interviews, one with President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia and another with former Prime Minister of Tanzania, Frederick Sumaye. President Johnson-Sirleaf discusses her strategy for rebuilding Liberia. Former Prime Minister Sumaye reflects on his tenure, why he decided to go back to school, and presents his opinion on some recent developments in African politics and policy, especially in Tanzania.
The five core articles comprise a diverse and interesting array of topics. A piece by Gompert and Stearns complement our interview with President Johnson-Sirleaf. Their article proposes a comprehensive security architecture for Liberia; one that is also relevant for many other African countries.
The two articles that apply to the entire continent are centered on NEPAD and the role of engineering in Africa. Calestous Juma and Bob Bell make a case for rejuvenating African economies through engineering while Francis Nwonwu proposes measures for making NEPAD live up to its aspirations. On the Central African front, Stephanie Hodge suggests measures for managing the Lake Chad basin. In his controversial article, Markus Scheuermaier asks if land should be returned to white farmers in Zimbabwe in a post-Mugabe environment.
Given the impact of Africa’s portrayal in the media, our arts reviews are equally important. In this issue, we review two books: Robert Calderisi’s “The Trouble with Africa” and William Easterly’s “The White Man’s Burden.” Our movie reviews are of the Idi Amin-based “The Last King of Scotland” and “Live and Become,” a movie based on the airlift of Ethiopian Jews.
Besides the actual publication, APJ actively pursues a variety of activities towards better policymaking in Africa. As part of the launch of this volume, APJ is organizing a panel of students from top public policy schools who worked in Africa in the summer to share their experience in terms of the relation between the classroom and the field. Keep coming back to www.africapolicyjournal.com as we continually share some of their insights with you. In addition, APJ will again host a policy-related panel at the annual Africa Business Conference in February at the Harvard Business School.
Nothing epitomizes the momentum of and for Africa more than this journal, produced with dedication and sacrifice by volunteer students—Africans and non-Africans alike—passionately committed to the development of the continent. We thank the contributors without whom there will be no journal. We also thank our Kennedy School student journal publishers for their prompt responses to all our questions, and our faculty advisory board for continuing to direct us. Special thanks to Sam Unom for his vision in creating the journal and his continued financial and moral support, and to the staff of the first volume for executing the vision. Finally, thank you continuing to read the journal.
It is indeed a new day and it is Africa’s to seize.
Yours Sincerely,
Mr. Kobina Aidoo & Ms. Heidy Servin-Baez
Co-Chief Editors