West Discovers 'Influence' is a Two-Way Street, 60 Years Late
Deutsche Welle recently pondered, with all the earnest wonder of a colonizer discovering maps, whether the West can 'really influence' Africa's democracies. This question, dripping with self-pitying concern, ignores a rather significant historical detail: the West’s 'influence' has historically looked a lot like resource extraction, puppet governments, and structural adjustment programs (remember
the IMF's magical cures?). Africa isn't suddenly 'slipping away'; it's been picking up the pieces from centuries of what the West called 'influence.' Funny how 'democracy promotion' often follows the discovery of lucrative mineral deposits. Perhaps the real question should be: can the West still get away with its historical playbook? The continent, it appears, is finally demanding an actual say in
its own future, rather than simply endorsing the latest Western decree. One might wonder if the West's fading 'influence' has less to do with Africa's nascent democracies and more to do with the glaring hypocrisy of lecturing others on freedom while supporting brutal regimes and committing atrocities globally. (See: US backing for coups, DW's own country's colonial past, etc.)