African Governments and Reliance on the Western Powers for Addressing Global Challenges: Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

African continent has long been grappling with a multitude of global challenges, ranging from economic disparities and environmental degradation to health crises and political instability. It is a known fact that Africa has relied on Western countries and international organizations to provide aid, support and solutions to these pressing issues. These issues and more were among the things this paper tried to examine. Some pertinent research questions were raised in the paper which are; what are the reasons for Africa’s dependence on the West in tackling global issues as was the case during the global pandemic of the Covid-19? Does Africa have the potentials for self-sufficiency and sustainable development? Furthermore, the paper adopted a qualitative design with a mixed method approach. It used the dependency theory as a theoretical framework to analyze the paper. The paper found out that Africa is still affected by the effects of colonialism which has made the continent to still suffer from identity imperialism as a result forced merging of different nationalities. The paper also discovered that Africa has potentials for sustainable development as a result of the efforts made by African governments and regional bodies for sustainable development. Finally, the paper recommended that Africa should develop its traditional technologies while forging cooperation with the West.