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The Scramble for Europe. Young Africa on its way to the Old Continent. Edition No. 1

  • Book

  • 200 Pages
  • April 2019
  • Region: Africa, Europe
  • John Wiley and Sons Ltd
  • ID: 5226709

From the harrowing situation of migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean in rubber dinghies to the crisis on the US-Mexico border, mass migration is one of the most urgent issues facing our societies today. At the same time, viable solutions seem ever more remote, with the increasing polarization of public attitudes and political positions.

In this book, Stephen Smith focuses on ‘young Africa’ - 40 per cent of its population are under fifteen - anda dramatic demographic shift. Today, 510 million people live inside EU borders, and 1.25 billion people in Africa. In 2050, 450 million Europeans will face 2.5 billion Africans - five times their number. The demographics are implacable. The scramble for Europe will become as inexorable as the ‘scramble for Africa’ was at the end of the nineteenth century, when 275 million people lived north and only 100 million lived south of the Mediterranean. Then it was all about raw materials and national pride, now it is about young Africans seeking a better life on the Old Continent, the island of prosperity within their reach. If Africa’s migratory patterns follow the historic precedents set by other less developed parts of the world, in thirty years a quarter of Europe’s population will beAfro-Europeans. Addressingthe question of how Europe cancope with an influx of this magnitude, Smith argues for a path between the two extremes of today’s debate. He advocatesmigratory policies of ‘good neighbourhood’ equidistant from guilt-ridden self-denial and nativist egoism.

This sobering analysis of the migration challenges we now face will be essential reading for anyone concerned with the great social and political questions of our time.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction: A View from the Top of the Population Pyramid

Africa: The Mexico of Europe

A 'stress test' between generations

Africa Has Not Yet Taken Off

The Kingdom of Lies

Chapter One: The Law of Large Numbers

Africa: The World's Youth

Nigeria: Take it or Leave It

Lagos: Half Paradise, Half Slum

The Chinese Model

Demographic Governance

Chapter Two: The Island-Continent of Peter Pan

Empty Granaries, Coveted Land

The 'Birth' of Youth

Suicides in a blue frock coat

Brothers and Sisters in Faith

Democracy, a Barmecide feast

Chapter Three - Emerging Africa

Trade secrets

The 'gatekeeper state'

'A Billion Good Reasons'

Identity as a repertoire

Musa Wo, the legendary 'enfant terrible'

Chapter Four: A Cascade of Departures

The dilemma of development aid

The Draining of Lake Chad

To Live the 'White Man's Life'

The repertoire of rejection

Zooming in on the Mare nostrum

Chapter Five: Europe as Destination and Destiny

Don't reckon without your host

Plugging a Leaky Dike with Sandbags of Euros

'Bowling Alone'

Smashing the actuarial tables

Beware of 'transfers'

'A Rancour Sharpened by the Winter'

By Way of Conclusion: Some Plausible Scenarios for the Future

The Obsession with 'Scenes and Types'

Go See the Other Side!

Notes

Bibliography

Authors

Stephen Smith