Waiting for oprah & the new US constituency for Africa

Abstract

Is Africa falling off the policy map in the United States as is commonly alleged? Or do the new policies and constituency‐building efforts emanating from Washington, signal an African renaissance in the United States? This essay argues that this debate hides a more significant development: the formation of a hegemonic coalition, promoting an ideology suited to the post‐development, post‐affirmative action, multiracial era. If coalesced, this coalition would replace the forces that kept progressive African policies on the public agenda for over a generation. The very character of elite policy groups reveals, however, their dilemma: neither capital nor the state is substantially interested in African development.