If Africa’s underdevelopment has been compounded mainly by official aid, as the Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo argues in her book Dead Aid, then addressing it might be as straightforward as she suggests. Aid could be turned off, African governments would work harder to foster growth and private capital might prove more effective in curbing poverty. If aid were the principal vehicle to achieve prosperity the solution would be equally simple. It could be expanded.

Awkwardly for protagonists on either side of this heated debate, the problems posed by many of sub-Saharan Africa’s 48 states resist either prescription. One reason is the legacy bequeathed by Europe. Africa is made up of fragmented, mostly artificial nations. Many lack the scale necessary to draw sustained investment and resources sufficient to pump prime development. The continent’s infrastructure remains woefully inadequate, designed to service trade with Europe rather than to promote the emergence of more powerful African trading blocs.