Time to play the soft power card

The increasing presence of China and India in Africa is an issue that is yet to be fully understood. As their roles in the continent begin to unfold, there is a concomitant interest in understanding how different each country's engagement will be in comparison with previous hegemonic forces such as European colonisers in the 19th and 20th centuries. There are crucial questions that need to be answered as the entrenchment of China's and India's interests in Africa consolidates. What are the conditions that turned each country from being relatively poor agrarian societies to major world economic players in a relatively short space of time? What are the conditions that arose within each of these countries to instigate an outward drive towards Africa? And what is it that Africa has to offer China and India in this era of globalisation?

There are at least two opposing views about the value of Africa's connection to the global economy. One is an optimistic and favourable one that points towards significant upward economic mobility across at least 10 of the countries; the other is a patronising one that still places the continent in the throes of sheer darkness. Energy issues are of such dire need that the Africa Progress Report 2015 estimates two out of every three Africans, totalling almost 600 million people, are without access to electricity.