Nigeria, Africa, and the United States by Abegunrin Olayiwola;

Author:Abegunrin, Olayiwola;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic

Chapter 7

The Clinton Administration and African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA)

INTRODUCTION

Since the end of colonial rule in Africa and the attainment of independence in the 1950s and 1960s, the African leaders have been searching for the appropriate development approaches and initiatives for their countries to set them free of foreign domination:

Since the attainment of political independence, many African countries have simply become a testing ground for one development initiative or the other, yet the search for a sustainable development trajectory has remained largely elusive. From development planning to structural adjustment where African countries were encouraged to embrace the free market principles, Africa has remained the struggling continent that seems to defy all western development ideas.1

When William Jefferson Clinton, the 42nd president of the United States of America, was inaugurated on January 20, 1993, many Africans praised his election concerning the U.S. relationship with Africa and were hopeful that the new president will introduce new and progressive policy toward Africa. This chapter examines the historical background of the AGOA, its objectives and implementation. This chapter also analyzes and shows the positive and negative benefits and prospects of AGOA to the African countries.

U.S. foreign policy toward Africa since the 1950s has always been based on the strategic importance of mineral resources of the continent for the national interest of the United States. The acquisition of the minerals did not require a military presence or formal decolonization by the United States, but could be facilitated by positive interaction. The Cold War period (1945–1990) received a lot of attention under successive U.S. administrations guided by an imperative designed to contain communism at all costs, whether under the Democratic or Republic administration. With the end of the Cold War the focus changed, and the Clinton administration sought to shift the terms of the U.S. policy toward Africa. With this new shift, the Clinton administration advocated democratization, the development of civil society, privatization, and free and open markets as the foundation of a new and progressive U.S. foreign policy for Africa. It should be noted that this shift of new policy toward Africa was essentially because of Clinton’s closeness to the African American communities and his willingness to travel to Africa, and meeting with new generation of African leaders, and was concerned about African issues. President Clinton was viewed by many as transforming American relationship with Africa and was ready to work with the new generation of African leaders. However, others were critical of his administration as being little more than just old wine in the new bottles.2

During the Clinton administration the U.S. Congress passed the Trade and Development Act of 2000 (H.R. 434), known as AGOA, and President Clinton signed the Act into law on May 18, 2000.3 This act authorized a new trade and investment policy for sub-Saharan Africa while also extending its benefits to the Caribbean Basin countries. Originally, the bill was named North American Free Trade Areas (NAFTA) for Africa, passed by House of Representatives in 1999, but died in the Senate.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.