From a marginalised to an emerging Africa? A critical analysis

At the end of the twentieth century, Africa was described as ‘marginalised’. Nowadays, the continent is considered as ‘emerging’. The aim of this paper is to discuss the validity of this new perception of Africa's position in the global economy. By critically re-evaluating existing empirical data, the author will attempt to show that the emergence thesis is superficial and does not take into account the current nature of economic growth in Africa and the cost it implies in terms of net income payments to the rest of the world. The reality is that Africa remains one of the world's most open, dependent and exploited regions.