India Development Interest in Africa

Introduction

This research will be geared towards investigating why India has increased its interest in development in Africa. As such, the research will be explaining the nature of India’s development activities in the African continent as well as the political and particularly, economic motivations behind Indian regional development cooperation with African countries. There will also be an investigation of some of the unforeseen risks involved with India’s increased interest in African development.

Aims and Objectives

• To highlight the main reasons why India has increased its interest in development in Africa
• To investigate the consequences of India’s development policies in Africa
• To explore the challenges involved with India’s increased interest in African development

Research Questions

• What are India’s motivations for increasing the scope of their regional development policies in Africa?
• What are the effects of India’s development policies and cooperative efforts in Africa?
• How does India’s development interest in India affect the Indian economy and the political economy as a whole?

Literature Review

India’s development activities have been well documented ever since the country obtained independence from the British rule. Today, the country has an extensive development cooperation policy, which includes both neighbouring countries and African countries. However, recently, the country has increased its development cooperation activities in African countries. In 2007/2008, African countries received no less than $50 million worth of India’s annual development fund (Charturvedi, 2008).
The question here is why has India increased its interest in African development? This question can be answered using three areas of study which are global analysis, generic themes and case studies. There is no doubt that India’s development activities are geared towards peace building and this in itself has other motivations that can be described as being economic in nature (Pugh, et al. 2009).
It is clear that India’s regional cooperation initiatives in Africa are not only beneficial to African countries, but also to India itself. In order to sustain India’s current growth in the international political economy and in order for it to remain competitive with other emerging economic forces like China, the country needs to invest in African development in order to reap the rewards that come from the resource endowments present in African countries as well as the opportunities that lie within quickly industrialising African economies. As such, it is little wonder that overall, India FDI in Africa has currently risen to $105 billion (Naidu, 2009, p 45).
Furthermore, as hinted earlier, the development activities of India in African countries can be said to be linked to African energy and resources. According to some experts on the subject matter, there are risks which are linked to this strategy and these include the emergence of enclave syndrome. Other problems which could arise as a result of India’s development activities in Africa include increase in debt on the part of African countries (Chahoud, 2008, p 60).

Research Methods

This research project will be focusing on the positivist approach to understanding the social phenomenon of India’s increased interest in development in Africa. The positivist approach to understanding research data is one that focuses on using scientific methods and experiments in order to prove or explain a phenomenon. The social characteristics that this research possesses are ones that call for the provision of evidence which backs up the results obtained from the research process.
This research project needs to be able to use empirical observations and testing in order to fully understand and make conclusive assertions as to why India has increased its interest in development in Africa. Therefore, a positivist approach would be most appropriate for this research.

Data Collection

Data collection via Documents
Documents will be the primary mode of data collection for this research. In order to carry out any social research the use of established texts, documents, papers, books, statistics and other sources of secondary data are essential. This notion is particularly applicable when the issue is not only social but also economic and political in nature. The research needs to obtain information from these secondary spruces in order to analyze to find possible correlations between the variables involved. Using documents as a means of collecting information also enables the researcher to evaluate and test their hypotheses (Dunsmuir, 1991, p 44).
Documentary data collection also creates a foundation on which new research can be built. It also allows social researchers to make any advancements or alterations to their research, if necessary.

Data Analysis

This project will be using qualitative analysis to understand the data obtained regarding the subject matter. As such, the analysis used within this project will consist of data reduction, data display and conclusion drawing. Data reduction is a means through which data is simplified, abstracted and transformed. It is worth mentioning that data reduction is an analytical process that will be occurring throughout the duration of this research. This means that there will be a need to make summaries, coding and the writing of notes even during the data collection stage of the project and until the final draft of the research has been written. At this point, it is important to mention that data reduction forms an inherent part of qualitative analysis. It is also crucial because it helps the researcher avoid a glut of information by cutting down ‘chunky’ bit whilst focusing on the key data (Dunsmuir, 1991).
Data display will be used in this project in order to compress an array of data which will in turn enable this project to make conclusive assertions. It should be mentioned that the project will not be suing rudimentary methods of display such as extended text. The reason for this is because extended text can be cumbersome and overloading in terms of comprehension. In order to carry out an effective data display analysis, this project will use displays such matrices, graphs, charts and networks in order to display bulky information in an organized and compact way (May, 2001, p 88).
The final mode of analysis that this research will be utilising will be conclusion drawing and verification. Right from the data collection stage, the project will be trying to find patterns, explanations, causal flows and propositions within the data collected. This conclusions made during the course of completion will not be considered to be binding at first, but will become increasingly ‘grounded’ and ‘explicit’ as the research advances. The final conclusions for the project will not be made until after the data collection process has been completed (Miles, 1994, p 10).

Conclusion and Recommendations

The research methods and approach used for this research will be capable of providing a theoretical background for the research as well as the necessary empirical evidence required for answering the research question. It may be necessary to incorporate more data collection methods for this research in order to make the research more comprehensive. The use of interviews to obtain the opinions of experts on the subject matter could be invaluable for the research and the quality of the conclusions drawn from it.