Book launch in collaboration with the UCT Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance

Event details

  • Date and time: 7 Nov 2024, 13:00 SATS
  • Venue: HUMA Seminar Room, 4th Floor, Humanities Building. Upper Campus, University of Cape Town. See directions on Google Maps.
  • Register to attend: To join online, Register here. Attending in person? Please email petunia.thulo@uct.ac.za by Monday, Nov 4th 2024. 
  • Chair: Divine Fuh, HUMA Director 

RSVP: attending online RSVP: attending in person

About the book

This book examines the economic relationship between Africa and Europe. It highlights the stigmatised narratives about Africa and analyses how they influence a range of key actors and processes. This is illustrated by the actions of European actors who reinforce negative narratives through replacing real economic transformation and development with charity, while African leaders compete to maximise aid donations and help further these narratives. This book acknowledges the complex history of the relations between Africa and Europe and details the ways in which Africa has become a peripheral player in the world economy. It will be relevant to researchers and policymakers interested in development and African economics.

See the book: The Self-Deception Trap. Exploring the Economic Dimensions of Charity Dependency within Africa-Europe Relations (Springer, 2024). Open Access

About the author

Prof. Carlos Lopes is an Honorary Professor at the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, Cape Town, Visiting Professor at Sciences Po, Paris, and Associate Fellow at Chatham House, London. He has been associated with several high-level boards, including the Global Commission for Economy and Climate, Global Commission for the Future of Work, Global Commission on the Geopolitics of Energy Transformation and the Commission on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa. He is a current member of the boards of Jakaya Kikwete Foundation, Hailemariam and Roman Foundation, the Graça Machel Trust, the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, the Global Advisory Board of the African Leadership Institute, Waterloo University International Advisory Board,  Board member of Invest Africa, African Center for Cities Advisory Board, the Board of Directors of the World Resource Institute, Advisory Council of the African Climate Foundation, as well as Honorary Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences and Lifetime Member of the Lisbon Academy of Sciences.

Professor Lopes is past chair of the Lisbon University Institute (2009–2017) and past head of several institutions at the United Nations, including the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, UN System Staff College and UN Under-Secretary General and Executive Secretary, Economic Commission for Africa, (2012–2016). He has occupied prominent positions such as UN Assistant Secretary-General and Political Director for Secretary-General Kofi Annan and was appointed as African Union High Representative for Partnerships with Europe in 2018 and as a member of the African Union Reform Team led by President Paul Kagame in 2017.

Poster Carlos Lopes: The Self-Deception Trap. Book launch