Research Output
— 2026
‘Lagos Global: Financial Epicentre of West Africa’
In Handbook on Cities, Infrastructure and International Relations, Michele Acuto, Simon Curtis, Ian Klaus, Gaea Morales (Eds.), De Gruyter
Abstract
Africa’s emerging urban financial centres are reshaping the global financial landscape. Lagos, as West Africa’s key International Financial Center (IFC), illustrates this shift. One of the world’s fastest-growing megacities, Lagos embodies a unique model of financial globalization influenced by Africa’s demographic surge, rapid urbanization, informal economies, technological advances, and vibrant cultural scenes. Located at one end of the Gulf of Guinea corridor, a transnational megapolitan zone covering five West African countries, Lagos connects with Accra, Lomé, Cotonou, and Abidjan. Unlike China’s megalopolises, which are limited within a single country, this 1,028 km polycentric corridor functions as a decentralized network of interconnected transnational urban hubs. Lagos State Government is positioning the megacity as one of Africa’s three economic “command centers,” alongside Johannesburg and Nairobi. Far from being a latecomer to developing this financial center, Lagos continues Africa’s tradition of powerful and wealthy cities at the core of civilizations. Consequently, we need to reevaluate our view of emerging African financial centers as ‘catching up’ to the West in line with the Development paradigm. Instead, International Financial Centers are about political and economic power and how they anchor the archipelago of global financial networks within sovereign territories. Our reading of Africa’s new financial centers should therefore shift from the ‘development’ paradigm to a geopolitical perspective of political economic power embedded in the urban.
— 2024
Beyond ‘Capture’, the Gupta Coup d’état of the South African State: A historic repeat of state, finance, and global capitalism dynamics?
In Capitalism and Economic Crime in Africa: The Neoliberal Period, Ed. Jörg Wiegratz, Routledge
Abstract
While recognising that the term has a long and complicated history in sub-Saharan Africa (Cheeseman and Shishuwa 2021), democracy matters to South Africans. They resisted Apartheid power, were tortured, displaced, went into exile, and died to vote for the African National Congress (ANC) and Nelson Mandela in 1994. But former ANC South African President Jacob Zuma made a mockery of their struggles for democratic accountability as he enabled the Gupta brothers, unelected representatives of the people, to shape the country’s domestic policies in their own interests
— 2022
Canada in the World of Development Finance: No Middle Place in a Tight Space Sculpted by Big Infrastructure
In Carment, D., Macdonald, L., Paltiel, J. (eds) Canada and Great Power Competition: Canada Among Nations 2021, book series: Canada and International Affairs (CIAF), Palgrave Macmillan
Abstract
Former CEO Paul Lamontagne claimed that ‘the world will definitely be watching’ Canada as it launched its new development finance institution, FinDev (FinDev Canada 2018). Launched in 2018, FinDev Canada was hailed as Canada finally getting into the development finance game (Courtney 2018). Assessing FinDev and drawing on the case of East Africa, this chapter argues that Canada is in a much smaller development finance game than most other actors, investing and supporting small and medium enterprises (SME) rather than infrastructure projects. For instance, FinDev’s total investment into East Africa was $12M CAD into Kenya’s M-KOPA Solar system, while China’s Eximbank invested $1.3B USD in Kenya’s power infrastructure alone. The comparison may not seem fair; why compare Canada’s development finance to that of China’s, the largest source of official development finance in the world (Gu and Carey 2019)? The reason, I suggest, is that each country’s development finance policies reflect distinct analyses about the world we live in and shifting geopolitics. There is a stark difference between China reconfiguring global connectivity through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) versus Canada focusing on financing small- and medium-sized businesses and financial institutions.
— 2022
Geopolitics of Finance in Africa: Birth of Financial Centres and not Monetary Unions
In Ben Gadha et al. (Eds) The Quest for Economic and Monetary Sovereignty in 21st Century Africa, London: Pluto
Abstract
African countries are investigating different paths to higher and inclusive economic growth. A favoured route is via regional integration, at the continental level as through the African Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), as well as via Regional Economic Communities (REC) that promote deeper integration through future monetary unions. The African Union envisions a single currency for the continent that will connect these RECs into a larger monetary union. In this scenario, formal monetary sovereignty will progressively move from the national to the continental level of governance. In this chapter, I argue that this goal is highly unlikely, and that monetary sovereignty will most likely remain at the domestic level of governance. This is because powerful African states are reaching out to embed financial networks within their economic hubs as they establish international financial centres (IFC). And to do this, they need to hold on to their monetary sovereignty and not delegate it to a sub-regional or continental level of public authority. Therefore, Africa’s financial geography will replicate that of the current global financial structure organised through a hierarchy of IFCs, where monetary sovereignty is retained at the domestic level, rather than a European Union model where formal monetary sovereignty is moved to the supranational level of governance through the creation of a single currency.
— 2021
Djiboutian Sovereignty: Worlding global security networks
With Ra Mason. International Affairs, Volume 97, Issue 6, November 2021, Pages 1767–1784
Abstract
The research problem this article addresses is whether the unique confluence of overseas security forces in a single territorial space through the leasing of land for foreign military bases compromises the state's sovereignty. We study Djibouti's practice of renting land to military powers from an analytical position that is diametrically opposed to the literature on the ‘scramble’ for Africa and often erroneous assumptions of an erosion of sovereignty. Using the concept of ‘worlding’, we argue in this article that instead of reading ‘military base diplomacy’ as eroding and undermining Djibouti's sovereignty, this case demonstrates the ways in which ‘the art of being global’ underpins new forms of territoriality and unexpected forms of locality in Africa. Consequently, we maintain that African experiences of sovereignty offer the challenges, along with the rewards, of greater analytical depth to International Relations scholarship while expanding our understanding of different empirical cases beyond the western-centric accounts of sovereignty in line with an abstract ideal that does not tell us much about the world, postcolonial experiences and global politics. Through a case-study approach, we focus specifically on the stark distinctions between Japan and China, which both have their respective first postwar overseas military bases in the country, and the Djiboutian state itself, in terms of how each are interpreting and practicing sovereignty to fit their own national narrative, international status and domestic legal frameworks. The findings challenge simplistic analyses of African states as victims of exploitative Great Powers, gradually and repeatedly being stripped of their sovereignty.
— 2018
Gatekeepers of financial power: from London to Lagos
Special issue ‘Beyond the Gatekeeper state? IR perspectives on African states in the 21st century’. Third World Thematics: A TWQ Journal, 3:3, 364-380
Abstract
The main premise of this paper is that, until recently, African elites did not regulate or control financial flows moving across the continent. They were not financial gatekeepers. In Africa Since 1940, Cooper identified African elites as gatekeepers regulating access to resources and opportunities passing through strategic sites. This paper makes a case for revision of existing notions of the gatekeeper state in an ongoing effort to (re)negotiate the continent’s colonial past through two new arguments. The first is that financial power was never located at a ‘peripheral’ African gate, but resolutely held onto within leading financial centres, circumventing any opportunity for African elites to control financial flows. Failure to distinguish between types of flows distorts analysis of African political economic power under colonialism. It is only in the post-2000 period, that we see powerful African states driving the integration of African markets into the global financial system. The second argument is that these African goals to control financial flows correspond more to ‘gateway’ strategies than to gatekeeper. Drawing on the case of Lagos, I demonstrate how this ‘gateway’ concept better captures trans-scalar processes of new financial clustering in Africa’s emerging markets than a concept associated with ‘gates’ under Empire.
— 2018
Canada-Africa relations in changing core-periphery dynamics: a chance to ‘come back’ differently
International Journal of Canadian Studies, Vol 55
Abstract
The Department of Foreign Affairs Canada sees the dynamism at play across the African continent as calling out for Canadian engagement. Africa in the twenty-first century is no longer the continent emerging from colonial rule; it seeks new forms of relationships with international partners. The African Development Bank, for instance, has identified five priorities for inclusive growth on the continent. The challenges are huge, as is the potential for transformative change. But the conditions for international collaboration in achieving these goals have changed; African leaders are seeking new forms of associations and teamwork. Canada has an opportunity to “come back” differently if it can look beyond its narrow mining interests and become an active partner working with public authorities in need of new and bold international partnerships. Unfortunately, Trudeau's “Canada is back” campaign does not look set to change the status quo. And, in a world where the political economic power is moving east, African countries do not have much reason to listen to Canada.
— 2015
Globalization and the health of Canadians: ‘Having a job is the most important thing’
With R. Labonté, M. Orsini, D. Spitzer, T. Schrecker and A. Ruckert. Globalization and Health, 11(1), pp.1-16
Abstract
Globalization describes processes of greater integration of the world economy through increased flows of goods, services, capital and people. Globalization has undergone significant transformation since the 1970s, entrenching neoliberal economics as the dominant model of global market integration. Although this transformation has generated some health gains, since the 1990s it has also increased health disparities. Families experienced an erosion of labour markets (employment) attributed to outsourcing, discrimination in employment experienced by new immigrants, increased precarious employment, and high levels of stress and poor mental health; costly and poor quality housing, especially for new immigrants; and, despite evidence of declining social protection spending, appreciation for state-provided benefits, notably for new immigrants arriving as refugees. Job insecurity was the greatest worry for respondents and their families. Questions concerning the impact of these experiences on health and living standards produced mixed results, with a majority expressing greater difficulty 'making ends meet,' some experiencing deterioration in health and yet many also reporting improved living standards. We speculate on reasons for these counter-intuitive results. Current trends in the three globalization-related pathways in Canada are likely to worsen the health of families similar to those who participated in our study.
— 2015
Making the international in contemporary South Africa: MasterCard’s Biometric Social Grant Card
In Making Things International: Vol 1. Circulation, edited by Mark Salter, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press
Abstract
What is taking place in South Africa is a departure from historic arrangements between the very poor and global finance. Capabilities developed in the spheres of technology, global finance and governance enable the South African state to hand over the management of its monthly social grant budget to MasterCard. Finance in South Africa is a mature and developed sector, and it has a dominant place in the country’s political economy. However, the ANC government is going beyond its customary policy of aiding financial companies to expand their operations. The government is transferring the management of public funds to a global financial company. But technology is not enough for financial firms to expand into new markets- or rather, to create them. State action is necessary to open up mass markets in developing and emerging markets. This is taking place on a wide scale, not only in South Africa. What is noteworthy in the South African case, however, is that MasterCard is using the route of managing public funds for the very poor as one way to create new financial markets, and that this is action being actively sponsored by the state. This Making Things International is an unprecedented move and signals new alignments across all layers and spheres of society and haute finance.
— 2014
Johannesburg: Financial ‘Gateway’ to Africa
In The Power of Cities in International Relations, edited by Simon Curtis. Oxon: Routledge
Abstract
Over the next few decades, Africa’s urban population will grow by more than 300 million people (Cities Alliance 2013). These megacities reflect the heightened pace of urbanization taking place in Africa. High growth in African markets, morose economic activity in the industrialized economies, and the need to find new lucrative financial markets are pushing global finance to think differently about their activity and reach in African markets. The sheer scale of what is taking place makes it worth global capital’s while to expand into these markets. Discourse is shifting from Africa as a hopeless continent to Africa as an emerging pole of growth and as a vibrant new frontier market. Historic economic hubs in sub-Saharan Africa are being identified as gateways for investment and business into the continent.
— 2014
Motsepe’s Gift: or how Philanthropy serves Capitalism in South Africa
With Elizabeth Friesen. In Selected Themes in African Studies Vol 1, Selected Themes in African Political Studies: Political Conflict and Stability, edited by Lucky Asuelime, Joseph Yaro and Suzanne Francis. Springer
Abstract
The recent decision by South Africa’s mining magnate Patrice Motsepe to donate half of his wealth to charity is an opportune moment to examine the relationship between capitalism and philanthropy. It is capitalists who are philanthropic. Philanthropy presents the more humane face of capitalism and conceals its penchant for avaricious accumulation. It is particularly germane to ask questions about this relationship within the context of South Africa where the gap between wealth and poverty is constantly widening. Power, for Fernand Braudel, is the product of bringing together the state and capitalism into a common project of development. It is here, at this point of common interest between capitalists and the state, where the unmistakable characteristic of ‘real’ capitalism exists, to gain monopolistic control of the most profitable sectors of the economy. In the case of South Africa, this is the minerals–energy complex. Firstly, we argue that social order in South Africa has kept a small powerful capital class in place while allowing the new black elite to increase its ranks. This integration of blacks has not changed the distribution of wealth in the country; rather it reflects broader patterns of capital accumulation by a minority and growing wealth disparity. Next, we claim that the tradition of philanthropy, employed by magnates such as Motsepe, is considered an appropriate response to growing social economic and political inequalities.
— 2012
The South African Constitution as a Source of Conflict: Movement and Counter Movement
In Capitalism and Confrontation: Critical Perspectives, Carlo Fanelli, Chris Hurl, Priscillia Lefebvre and Gülden Özcan (eds), 137-152. Red Quill Books
Abstract
The African National Congress came to power in 1994, inspired by a vision to improve the lives of the majority. Yet local governments are finding it difficult to provide basic services as South Africa re-enters the global economy and gives the private sector a dominant role in development. In the absence of effective services such as water, electricity, and housing, violent protests have ensued. While the new South African constitution guarantees certain freedoms, the poor are becoming increasingly excluded and marginalized. South Africa provides a case study as to how the reduction of the role of the state and the increased role given to international investors leads to decentralization, privatization, financialization, and—ultimately—social unrest.
— 2012
Occupy Wall Street and International Political Economy: insights and implications
With Randall Germain. Journal of Critical Globalization Studies, ‘Imperialism, Finance and #Occupy’ 5:110-113
Abstract
The academic discipline of international political economy (IPE) is a hard-nosed and empirically-oriented field of study. The usual subjects of IPE often include the organization of international trade, global finance, transnational production, national welfare and competitiveness, productivity levels and of course state actions and expenditures. The actions of a handful of protestors such as the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ (OWS) movement rarely attract academic attention. In this case, however, we should take note. In our view, the actions of OWS provide further clues that we are entering an era of significant transformation in the organization and structure of world order. The insights generated by reflecting on this movement suggest that the inter-subjective mentality at the heart of global capitalism is no longer coherent, with the implication that we are at long last about to leave behind a half century of American hegemony.
— 2011
The Shaping of Islamic Finance in South Africa: Public Islam and Muslim Publics
Journal of Islamic Studies, 31, 29-59
Abstract
Using 'Public Islam' and 'Muslim Publics' as discursive spaces that construct Islam in the public sphere, this article argues that everyday actions at the intersection of religion and the economy are culturally and historically contextual. Shar'iah-compliant products are being developed by financial institutions entering the niche market of Islamic finance. This procedure contributes to the construction of Public Islam, the diverse invocations of Islam that actors bring to public life. Yet, this representation of Islam by banks and financial institutions is provoking debates as Muslims ask what, if anything, Islamic finance means to them in their lives. Muslim Publics are the situated, communitarian and political debates that occur in everyday life. Dynamic interactions between Public Islam and Muslims Publics highlight the situated character of financial action and underline the point that associations between being Muslim and using faith-based financial instruments are far from being automatic.
— 2010
The South African Reserve Bank and the Telling of Monetary Stories
Nokoko, 1, 67-98
Abstract
Stories about the new South Africa—its miraculous and peaceful transition to democracy, its macroeconomic stability, and its strong regional and continental diplomatic role—abound and serve to reinforce a master narrative of a transformed country rising from a violent past and now heading in the right direction. The hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup is an example of this new South Africa: a successful African state hosting a major international event. Tito Mboweni, former governor of the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), said that preparations for the World Cup took place during a period of strong economic growth. The persistent adherence to prudent macroeconomic policies by the authorities had resulted in the country’s solid economic performance in recent years and strengthened its capacity to host the games. This rhetoric portrays South Africa as a new and active participant on the world stage, a status aided by the prudent and long-sighted actions of the SARB, which created a stable macroeconomic environment. South Africa is an international success story, and this achievement is linked to good economic policy.