Restitution to Africa: Unjust Enrichment and Damages from Imperial, Colonial, and Post Colonial Abuse of Dominance

Abstract

Most of Africa struggles to improve daily life, and reduce or eliminate deep poverty. Household income and wealth are stuck at low levels. Public policies are unable to accelerate investment and growth, employment creation, and food production and security, housing, health care, and educational access and success, for the majority. The Fundamental, underlying reason for these lagging conditions is 500 years of unjust enrichment by Western, Northern, and lately, Asian actors. They abused their dominance, and captured excess benefits from trade, investment and other activities. The author proposes the orderly, disciplined, targeted return of the $20–$40 trillion of unjust enrichment, in grants to sectors identified as key to economic development.