Marshall Plan: Securing peace and its benefits for Africa- Responsibility of the countries of the North in development policy.  This is my response to the Marshall Plan

Dr.  Fekadu Bekele
August 17, 2025

Before I start my lecture, I would like to ask some questions that are relevant to understanding the issue.

1. Can the Marshall Plan in this form create the necessary conditions that are important for securing peace?

2.  What are the theoretical, scientific, and philosophical foundations of the Marshall Plan?
3.  Can the Marshall Plan fundamentally improve the lives of the African people?
4.  How can we assess the responsibility of the Global North-Western countries in development policy?

5. Can the global north act ideology-free and without claiming hegemony?
6. What has the Global North learnt from the previous economic policies of the last 60 or more years that have been practiced in many African countries?

Why do African countries expect so much from the North when in other underdeveloped countries the situation is as bad as in many African countries?

For example, the situations in Bangladesh, in some parts of India and in many Central and Latin American countries are as bad as in many sub-Saharan African countries.

Regardless of the content, what is behind the Marshall Plan?  Do the initiators and the planners have a different agenda or do they really want to help the continent?

To answer these questions, we should analyze the content of the Plan.

The Plan emphasizes the importance of securing peace and development in Arica. One can set both aspects as the goal of the plan. To achieve these goals, the planners have focused on four main points.

1. Fair trade
2. Private investment
3. Entrepreneurial spirit
4. Job creation
5. What does fair trade mean in this context?   The planners have not systematically analyzed how to realize this project.

It is well known that the global economy is dominated by capitalist countries. Most African countries, south of the Sahara, export mainly agricultural products and strategic raw materials. The prices of raw materials and agricultural products, such as coffee and cocoa, are being regulated and dictated by a few multinational companies that work together, forming cartels.  As these products are exported unprocessed, there is an unequal exchange between these products that come from Africa and industrial products that are being imported from the capitalist West.  Under existing global economic conditions, fair trade is unrealistic.

Moreover, the most important strategic raw materials are under the control of multinational companies that exploit raw materials and ship them abroad.  African governments are complicit with the multinational companies, and have little interest in changing the existing situations. Most extracting companies have their headquarters in Hong Kong, Singapore, London, New York and Toronto. They are being supported by their respective states. The multi- national companies are waging covert wars in various regions of Africa, especially in Congo and Central Africa. Also, in the context of agricultural products, it is problematic to talk about fair trade.

1. Access to the European market is very difficult. African countries have to fulfill many criteria to gain access to the European market.
2. Member countries like Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain produce more or less similar products except Coffee and Coca.  The EU market is already flooded with agricultural products that are being imported from these countries, as well as from Central and Latin American countries.
3. Most EU agricultural and animal products are being subsidized.
4. Heavily subsidized agricultural products from the EU are being sold in many African countries, and thereby throw away small producers out of the market.
5. When African governments impose restrictions to protect their own market, they do not get economic aid and credits from the EU and other capitalist countries.

6. It is a tacit agreement of the EU and the international community to maintain the status quo.
7. Therefore, it is very problematic to talk about fair trade under these very difficult conditions.

Let’s move on to the second aspect, private investment.

The plan emphasizes that private investment is crucial for job creation and economic growth. The planners believe that under this condition there can be organic growth that starts from bottom and grows upwards.  The planners believe that this is the only way to ensure economic growth in many African countries South of the Sahara. Therefore, state intervention is unnecessary.

The question that can be asked here is how many private investors does a country like Nigeria, which officially has 13.4% unemployment need to create enough jobs for the millions of people looking for work.  As in other African economies, there is no transparent market structure in Nigeria. The so-called informal sector dominates the economy.  In many African countries, there is underemployment, which is hardly recorded statistically.  Millions of Africans live below subsistence level.

Here, the planners fail to recognize the socio-economic conditions of the various African countries, and the psychological constitutions of the people. Under the prevailing conditions, private investors cannot spring up and provide economic activities capable of creating jobs for millions of Africans.

The emergence and development of creative private investors is a long process that needs to be systematically cultivated and nurtured. The European cultural history proves that private entrepreneurship can only emerge and flourish under certain sociological and cultural conditions.   Cultural revolution is needed that can unleash the spirit for entrepreneurship and other activities.  Therefore, the state plays a very crucial role in providing conducive conditions, such as the introduction of general school education, promotion of vocational schools, support for small and medium size enterprises, in which the state establishes a special bank to provide cheap loans with long-term maturities.  In addition, the state must establish institutions that are able to advise and regularly train small and medium-size enterprises and individual investors. Therefore, many African countries need state systems that can promote these aspects and set them in motion. Only under the condition of an enlightened state is a kind of African renaissance possible.

Historically, absolutist monarchs in Europe, philosophers, scientists, and other educated people had paved the way for the development of capitalism. Through concerted actions by the state and other enlightened forces, entrepreneurial spirit could emerge in Western Europe.

The African states and the global economy prevent the emergence of creative forces that want to become entrepreneur. Since many African countries have to open their markets for foreign goods, including second-hand goods, African governments cannot protect their local industries. Free trade and globalization distort the market, and force investors to specialize and concentrate only in certain areas such as hotels, and export and import activities.   It is therefore impossible under the regime of free trade and globalization to build a domestic market based on manufacturing, science and technology. Only by preventing or correcting this can African governments create conducive atmosphere for entrepreneurial activities.

Therefore, as the initiators of the plan believe, it is illusory that only private investors can create jobs for millions of Africans. In the chaotic conditions that prevail throughout Africa, a holistic and thoughtful approach is needed to mobilize all forces, both human and natural resources. This can only be done with a special program that can take into account all relevant aspects. To work out a holistic program, sociologists, philosophers, urban planners, architectures, psychologists, economists who are not neo-liberal or neo-classical must be involved. Neo-liberal or neo-classical economists do not understand what a society is, and in many cases do not have sociological und cultural knowledge. They see every society simply an arena of market activity. Foreign consultants can only be helpful if they understand the political and sociological conditions of the continent.  Experts with a neo-liberal mindset must be excluded.  It is very important to understand that each African country must be organized and built as a Nation-State so that sustainable economic, social and cultural developments are possible.  Every African country must be built as a society with all attributes if it wants to survive.  Peace in every African country can only be restored if each country can determine its own fate. As we have seen, policies that have been imported from the capitalist west have distorted the social fabrics of many African countries. At the same time African governments must protect their own resources.

The third point is entrepreneurship, which is considered by planners to be one of the most important pillars for achieving growth and economic development.  The planners do not tell us how entrepreneurial spirit can emerge. The emergence of entrepreneurial spirit can only be possible through all-inclusive education. As shown above, globalization and free trade prevent the emergence of entrepreneurial spirit. Moreover, the economic policies imposed by the IMF and the World Bank on the African continent over the last 50 or more years have paved the way for the emergence of business activities that are hardly compatible with true entrepreneurial spirit.

The neo-liberal economic policies of the IMF and the World Bank have the aim of diverting a country’s resources in the wrong direction. This has prevented the creation of national wealth based on science, technology and manufacturing.  If one analyzes the Marshall Plan from the above-mentioned aspects, it is hardly suitable to guarantee peace and sustainable development for the continent.

The plan ignores many aspects that are responsible for the armed conflicts in many African countries. The wars in Congo, Central Africa and other parts of Africa are proxy wars. The wars are being waged by many forces to plunder the resources of the continent.  What is taking place in Mali and Niger under the guise of fighting terrorism is a prime example of how mercenaries and foreign powers are systematically destabilizing the continent. If these short-sighted and irrational activities of foreign forces are not stopped, and foreign armies remain stationed in many African countries, it will be impossible to secure peace on the African continent.

Therefore, it is very important that all foreign forces must leave the continent before talking about a Marshall Plan. It is well-known that under peaceful conditions, creative capacities that are necessary for economic development are being released. In addition, the repressive state apparatuses that exist in many African countries must be dismantled. State institutions must be democratically restructured. The interference of foreign forces in the governments of African countries must be prevented. Economic development in Japan, South Korea, China and even in many Western capitalist countries proves that an independent and autonomous thinking and acting state is essential for balanced and healthy economic and social developments in any country. As we know, many African governments and their state apparatuses are embedded within the international system of domination, and this is an obstacle to genuine economic development and internal peace. Therefore, it is very difficult for African regimes to create conducive atmosphere for domestic entrepreneurial activities, and capitalist accumulation.  Instead, most African states create suitable conditions for the transfer of wealth from the continent to the capitalist West. Most African governments do not have patrioting and national feelings, and can easily be manipulated and corrupted by foreign forces and capitalist governments.

It is therefore imminently important to discuss the role of the state adequately. In order to secure peace and enable economic development, the task of the state must be defined. It is therefore necessary to educate a new generation of enlightened forces with all-embracing knowledge of science, manufacturing, technology, philosophy and social policy if the continent can be modernized and transformed.

The responsibility of the Global North in development policy.

In order to understand the role of the Global North, one has to consider some aspects. As is well known, a capitalist system prevails in many Western European countries.  Therefore, the development of capitalism and underdevelopment in Africa are two sides of the same coin. In other words, development in the West is only possible if Africa is seen as a source of raw materials and remains eternally a supplier of raw materials. Colonialism in the 19th century and the international division of labor that still exists today serve as the foundations of primitive accumulation for the capitalist West.  After political independence many African countries still remain suppliers of raw materials, and are not allowed to process their raw materials. This kind of international division of labor prevented many African governments to develop an inward-looking strategy that could help them to build a strong home market.  The various economic policies that have been introduced in the name of free-market economy have a single objective; namely, to maintain the status quo. The military coups that have taken place in various African countries over the last 60 years have aimed to prevent economic and social development that is independent of the West.

Development aid that was granted over the last 60 years has served this purpose. Development aid was and is granted when African governments accept and implement the conditions of the Global North. Therefore, development aid should not be conditional if each African country can have the chance to build a strong economy based on manufacturing, science and technology.  Development aid that has been granted until now, either from governments or non-governmental organizations, could not enable African countries to build a strong economy that is based on manufacturing, science and technology.

In addition, the West has vehemently supported the neo-liberal economic policies of the IMF and the World Bank, and even make them a condition for further development aid. As is well known, not a single country has managed to develop national wealth on the basis of manufacturing by implementing neo-liberal economic policies of the IMF and the World Bank. It is evident that the implementation of the so-called structural adjustment programs, has distorted the social systems in many African countries.   Many African governments become repressive, and count the state systems as their private property. The structural adjustment programs have prevented the emergence of an intellectual force that can challenge the backward structure of the state.  The chaotic situations that prevail in many African capital cities are products of the neo-liberal economic policies of the IMF and the World Bank.

When we talk about the responsibility of the Global North, we have to consider these facts and ask some questions.

1. Has the West in general asked itself what it has done so far?
2. Does it take moral responsibility for the economic and social damages that it has inflicted on

the continent?

3.Is the West prepared to stop making pressures on African governments if they reject the

dictates of the IMF and the World Bank?  The West must know that the neo-liberal economic

policies that have been imposed in the name of market economy are responsible for the

chaotic situations in many African countries.  It is also one of the causes of the mass exodus

from Africa to Europe.

4. Can the West give development aid without any condition? Is the West willing to transfer

real knowledge to Africa that is capable of enabling holistic development?  Is the West willing

to stop supporting dictatorial regimes?

One can ask many questions.   Fact is, the capitalist West is in no way allows any other economic policy other than the neo-liberal economic policy. Even if a neo-liberal concept is not mentioned in the plan, one can see on close reading that the program is neo-liberal in essence.

If one analyzes both aspects of the questions, namely securing peace and responsibility of the Global North from the point of view of the Marshall Plan, one cannot see that the Marshall Plan can even begin to fulfil these two goals.

The fact that the international community, including the EU, is not prepared to pursue an economic policy different from that of the last 4 decades, the Marshall Plan is doomed to failure. At the very least, the use of glyphosate for the next five years proves that the EU and other international institutions are not ideology-free.

It is therefore very important to analyze the development policies of the last 60 years in an all-encompassing way in order to come up with a reasonable plan that is acceptable to both continents.  The West, especially the government of the Federal Republic of Germany, must know that Africa’s all-round economic development is in no way damages the interests of the capitalist West. If the economies of many African countries develop the demand for machinery and other goods also grow.  Capitalistic development in many African countries is also helpful in bringing sustainable peace

The Marshall Plan does not address the preconditions that are indispensable for sustainable economic development and securing peace in any African country:

1. In the Marshall Plan fail many aspects that are crucial for the construction of a healthy economy. The building of institutions across a given country, the building of cities and villages, and the building of different types of infrastructures, like sub-way and train systems are not within the concepts of the planners. As a matter of fact, market economy or capitalism can develop only if all these criteria are fulfilled.  As is well known, economic activities can only take place in orderly structures. Therefore, spatial planning is necessary for creative activities, and for the emergence of small and medium-size enterprises.
2. The constructions of houses of various sizes are not envisaged or planned in the plan. Economic activities can take place only if the working population has housing facilities. Increasing productivity depends on the well-being of the working population.  In every country there are people who have certain dreams and desires. These dreams and desires can only be realized if cities and housings are built and designed aesthetically. The Marshall Plan does not see the need for systematic fulfilment of the Basic Needs, such as the provision of food, clean water, electricity and energy of various kinds, general schooling, and medical care.
3. The most important prerequisite for a reasonable plan is the spiritual modernization of certain social stratum in each country. The implementation of economic activities without spiritual renewal and cultural renaissance necessarily leads to chaotic situations as in many Latin and Central American countries.  The Marshall Plan neglects this central aspect of economic and social development in each country.
4. The Marshall Plan does not see the cultivation of a systematic division of labor that can

work together in a chained fashion. The production of value added is only possible if there is an economy based on the division of labor, based on science, technology and manufacturing in each country. Only through the systematic development of an economy based on the division of labor it is possible to build a strong internal market.

5. The Marshall Plan does not see the need for research and development. Without institutionalization of research and development, and without support from the state, the development of new technologies is impossible.

6. The Marshall Plan does not foresee the establishment of a special credit institution, which is necessary for the mobilization of domestic money to provide cheap, longer-term loans to small and medium-size industries.
7. It should be emphasized here that the core point of the Marshall Plan is not the systematic and all-round building of a given country, but to create favorable conditions for foreign investors. As is well known, foreign companies do not invest to develop a backward country, but to make profits, and plunder its resources
8. Therefore, the responsibility for the economic development of any country lies in the hands of the state and the people themselves, and is not the task of foreign forces. Foreign investors are only allowed to invest if they can actually contribute to the all-round development in each country.
9. The Marshall Plan lacks systematic analyses of the social, political, economic and cultural   conditions in each country. Every society has certain cultural, socio-economic formations, political and other conditions, and circumstances that either hinder or promote the development of a given country.  Therefore, it is necessary to make a comprehensive assessment of each country before one formulates an economic plan. There are no universal laws that apply to all societies on earth.  The planners believe that they have a recipe for all African countries.

The Marshall Plan is designed in the spirit of free trade and globalization. It is well known that globalization and free trade have a single mission, that is to create a worldwide neo-liberal supermarket to sell more goods. Globalization and free trade have no cultural promotion and civilizing missions. They drive people to consume more goods, and therefore they spread greed, anger and fear worldwide.  Greed, anger and fear are in turn the foundations of war. Free trade and globalization, in turn, favor the emergence of totalitarian and dictatorial regimes in many African countries.

Dr Fekadu Bekele is a publicist and development economist.