Africa Rising?: BRICS – Diversifying Dependency

Africa Rising?: BRICS – Diversifying Dependency
Author: Ian Taylor
Series: African Issues
Edition: New Edition (NED)
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer
Publication Year: 2014

About this Book (≈230–260 words)

Africa Rising?: BRICS – Diversifying Dependency critically examines the dominant narrative that Africa is experiencing a transformative economic resurgence driven by its deepening engagement with the BRICS nations—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. While policymakers and international commentators often celebrate the BRICS as catalysts of a new era of “South–South cooperation,” Ian Taylor argues that this optimism obscures uncomfortable realities. Drawing on detailed empirical evidence, he demonstrates that BRICS engagement in Africa has frequently reinforced long-standing patterns of dependency rather than dismantling them.

Taylor challenges the notion that BRICS investments inherently improve governance, accelerate industrialisation, or create broad-based employment. Instead, he shows that much of Africa’s recent growth is linked to commodity booms, extractive industries, and volatile global markets—not structural economic transformation. The book illustrates how deindustrialisation and jobless growth have continued or even intensified, despite the expansion of BRICS-Africa ties. Taylor also contends that, contrary to popular belief, the BRICS have little interest in fundamentally reforming global power structures; their foreign policies often align with maintaining the status quo that benefits their own strategic and economic objectives.

By analysing each BRICS country’s role individually—Brazil’s development diplomacy, Russia’s re-engagement, India’s commercial outreach, and China’s massive economic footprint—Taylor provides a nuanced account of how “Africa Rising” narratives can mask persistent vulnerabilities. Ultimately, he argues that Africa must craft autonomous development strategies rather than relying on external powers, whether Western or BRICS, if it hopes to escape enduring patterns of underdevelopment.

This book is essential reading for scholars of African political economy, development studies, and global South relations, as well as policymakers navigating Africa’s evolving international partnerships.

Contents

Introduction

1. The BRICS & ‘Africa Rising’

2. Brazil in Africa

3. Russia in Africa

4. India in Africa

5. China in Africa

6. ‘Africa Rising’: Jobless Growth & Deindustrialisation

7. Conclusion: Diversifying Dependency?

Bibliography

Index