Britain in Africa

by Tom Porteous

“Over the last 12 years the humanitarian imperative has driven British policy. It is an approach proposed originally by Jeffrey Sachs, and the theory is that Africa needs to be shocked out of the poverty trap with a massive injection of aid. It was part of the bubbling optimism of Blair and Bush who thought they could sort the world out. Aid is often necessary but it is not where Africa’s salvation is going to lie.”