22 January 2012 20:11

Losing half of Africa's economic hope?

African women beaten for wearing trousers – why it matters.

Since the Industrial Revolution, global output and wealth have grown immensely. A number of factors have driven this growth - specialisation and the division of labour, the invention of the company with its risk-limiting quality, and of models for assembling financing for large projects, technological changes that let us harness the energy of fossil fuels, and innovations in management and communication.

Over the last thirty years or so, however, one of the most important drivers of economic growth has been the entry of women into the paid labour force. Obviously, women have always worked - they grew or gathered most of the food our ancestors consumed for most of history, raised the children, and performed a thousand other crucial tasks in traditional and modern societies. Howev...

16 January 2012 19:29

Africa's biggest challenges in 2012

What’s should be keeping Africans awake at night this year?

We already know that 2012 is going to be a challenging year as we grapple with the crisis in Europe, the presidential election in America, the turmoil in Syria and Iran, and the continuing rise of new powers like China and India. But Africa will be facing a number of unique challenges as it heads boldly forward into 2012.

This week, we're going to look at the two biggest challenges that the continent will be facing in its struggle to gain prosperity, stability, and peace.

1.      Big political problems in big countries

Sub-Saharan Africa can be divided into three categories of countries - small nations like Rwanda and Burundi, which can be troublesome but have limited clout; big, troubled states like the DRC or Côte d'...