Abstract
The persistence of poverty, inequality, and underdevelopment in Africa, despite decades of foreign aid and assistance, has raised fundamental questions about the efficacy and sustainability of the aid paradigm. This qualitative desktop research study, employing discourse analysis, critically examines the complex relationships between aid, neocolonialism, and recolonisation in Africa, exploring the implications for the continent's future development. Drawing on a critical discourse analysis of existing literature, policy documents, and online archives, this study reveals how the aid paradigm has perpetuated neocolonialism and recolonisation in Africa, undermining the continent's sovereignty, agency, and self-determination. The study illuminates the power dynamics and relationships between Western donors, international inancial institutions, and African governments, examining how these relationships have shaped Africa's development trajectory. The findings demonstrate that the aid paradigm has failed to deliver sustainable development outcomes in Africa and that a fundamental shift in approach is required. This study contends that African governments and policymakers must move beyond the aid paradigm and adopt a more independent and self-reliant approach to development, one that prioritises African agency, sovereignty, and self-determination.
Recommended Citation
Ringson, John and Matshabaphala, Manamela Johannes David
(2025)
"Beyond the Aid Paradigm: Neocolonialism, Recolonisation and the Future for Africa’s Development,"
Southern African Journal of Policy and Development: Vol. 8:
No.
2, Article 3.
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/sajpd/vol8/iss2/3
