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Paper short abstract

This paper shows that the post-aid era delegates responsibility for development to African states without shifting real control over finance or policy. It finds that Southern cooperation reproduces structural constraints through elite authority and debt pressures.

Paper long abstract

The retreat of traditional Western aid is often framed as opening space for African states to pursue development autonomy with emerging Southern partners. This paper argues that post-aid restructuring through African South–South cooperation shifts responsibility for development outcomes onto African governments while preserving existing structures of authority, resource control, and policy influence. Emerging donor engagement can improve dialogue and investment but it often reinforces entrenched terms of engagement and limited accountability.

This paper demonstrates that contemporary cooperation arrangements prioritise investment, centralise authority, and maintain elite control by drawing on African regional integration frameworks, policy documents, financing agreements, and strategy texts. First, responsibility for infrastructure provision and development implementation falls to governments with constrained fiscal capacity and limited policy space. Second, cooperation strategies emphasise investment attraction and trade engagement, yet decision-making authority remains concentrated among political and economic elites. Third, mounting debt exposure creates pressures that limit autonomous policy action, as the rapid rise of new lenders and financiers complicates debt management and reinforces dependency.

The analysis reveals that development responsibility has been delegated to African states without corresponding shifts in power over capital or strategic direction. Transformative cooperation therefore requires institutional designs that entrench redistribution, accountable governance of development finance, and coordination around regional public goods that resist elite capture. This paper contributes to understanding how post-aid cooperation dynamics shape the tension between African agency and structural continuity.

Keywords: South–South cooperation, African development, post-aid development, development finance, structural power, elite capture, policy autonomy, debt dependency, regional integration