Panel 5: Finally Untamed? Africa´s New Engagements with the North and South

Globalization, including economic liberalization and political regime transition, has made the task of governance in African countries more challenging but it has also opened up opportunities for development that did not exist before. Of special significance are the new relationships that African actors, both state and private, have developed with other emerging economies in the South, e.g. Brazil, China and India, and the growing criticism of the extensive aid dependence on donor countries in the North. This growing diversification of Africa´s relations with the rest of the world coupled with increased investments, both domestic and foreign, is changing the scene on the ground in most countries. The perception of the continent is changing, again both locally and in other countries. There is a growing vibrancy and a self-confidence stemming in large part from a rapidly growing middle-class that was never there in the days the continent was more exclusively reliant on the state and donor funding as engines of development. In the light of these changes, this panel asks whether Africa is finally being untamed. What are the specific signs of this happening? What are the hurdles for realizing it?