Brown Journal of World Affairs
Volume XXI Issue 1 Fall–Winter 2014
http://brown.edu/initiatives/journal-world-affairs/

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Rise of Africa
Africa’s New Economic Landscape
Punam Chuhan-Pole
Preview:
The August 2014 U.S.–Africa Leaders Summit served as a recognition of the dynamism of African economies and their growing interconnectedness with the global economy.1 For those who have been studying Africa’s economic development, the rise of the region has been evident for several years. Beginning in the mid-1990s, Africa has seen a remarkable turnaround in economic performance. Nearly two decades of robust growth and a better policy environment have made the region an increasingly attractive place to do business. Looking ahead, the more relevant issue is whether the region’s growth momentum will last. There are several deeper trends, especially natural resource wealth and demographic changes that hold the promise of sustaining Africa’s growth take-off and enhancing the region’s importance in the global economy. Unleashing this potential, however, will require countries to adopt appropriate reforms of policies and institutions.

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Rise of Africa
Is Africa Rising?
Ian Taylor
Preview:
Africa is said to be rising, turning a definitive page in its history. African per capita growth figures are relatively high and have now been sustained for a decade or so, constructed on the back of high commodity prices. Analyses thus far have had strong evangelical undertones, suggesting that Africa has turned a corner and that its emergence is imminent. Barely a week passes without a new article, official report, or conference eulogizing the continent and its growth figures. Africa has been called a “rising star” and a global power that “will rule the 21st century.”1 Previous, less positive studies on Africa’s political economy are dismissed as “Afro-pessimism,” to be swept away by “the Ultimate Frontier Market.”2 It is clear that a flip-flop in attitudes regarding the continent has occurred. With minimal critical consideration, the narrative has swung from a portrayal of Africa as a basket case to Africa now being the future. Growth in GDP and opportunities for investors are the new intonations in a crude construction of Africa that has shifted almost overnight.

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Rise of Africa
Religion and the Rise of Africa
Amy S. Patterson
Preview:
The September 2013 terrorist attack by al-Shabaab on the Westgate mall in Nairobi, Kenya, heightened the world’s awareness of the role of religion in sub-Saharan Africa. When members of the Islamic terrorist organization, which controlled large swaths of Somalia from the late 1990s until recently, stormed shops and killed patrons and shopkeepers, they attacked symbols of consumerism, globalization, and Western influence. Indeed, most shoppers were either expatriates or middle- and upper-class Kenyans. Yet, while al-Shabaab’s actions generated media attention, they also contributed to a simplistic understanding of religion in Africa that paints religion as violent, primitive, and anti-Western. These assumptions depict religion as a new force in African security, politics, and development. As this article illustrates, these portrayals misrepresent reality. As actors with perceived legitimacy in society, religious leaders and institutions play complicated and diverse roles in Africa, from mobilizing parishioners for conservative social policies to negotiating peace agreements.

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Capital Punishment
[No abstracts]
Capital Punishment
Carsten Anckar, Ty Alper, Salil Shetty
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The Value of International Standards in the Campaign for Abolition of the Death Penalty
Salil Shetty
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Why Countries Choose the Death Penalty
Carsten Anckar