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# Niger, Mali, & Burkina Faso are planning on forming a federation, which is practically unsustainable
Germinal G. VanDec 3, 20233 min readRated 0 out of 5 stars.No ratings yet
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The governments of Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso recently met to discuss the formation of a possible federation. Indeed, the foreign ministers of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger met in Bamako, Mali, on December 1 to discuss the possibility of forming a political confederation. The three countries have a long history of cooperation and share many cultural and economic ties.
 In recent years, they have also faced similar challenges, including security threats from extremist groups and climate change. More importantly, these three countries are currently ruled by military juntas and have a long history of military coups and political instability.
 The ministers agreed to recommend to their heads of state that the three countries form a confederation as a first step toward a federation. A confederation is a looser form of political union than a federation, in which member states retain more sovereignty. The ministers said that a confederation would allow the three countries to pool their resources and coordinate their efforts on issues of common concern, such as security, economic development, and infrastructure. The real question to ask here is what to expect from the union of three poor and politically unstable countries?
 Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso are all military regimes ruled by anti-French rhetoric and Russian a sense of approval of Russia as the new liberator from French rule over its former colonies. We are all unanimous on the fact that French interference in the political and economic affairs of its former African colonies has, in fact, never developed West African French-speaking countries whether politically or economically. But to now rely on Russia as the new “partner” to expect economic development is sincerely misguided. Russia is not an economic power. It is only a military power. And yet the military leaders of these three poverty-stricken nations have developed closed ties with the Kremlin.
 The reality is that this union is politically and economically unsustainable and unviable. These three nations are politically unstable and infamous for having one of the highest numbers of military coups in the lifetime of a nation. Unfortunately, military coups became a political custom in these three countries. The political instability in these three countries is due to their inability to implement the peaceful transfer of power, which has, consequently, dramatically weakened their institutions and their whole political system. Hence, if these three countries led by military juntas come together to create a federation, how will the transfer of political power take place?
 It is important to stress the fact that the economic growth of a country is intrinsically linked to its political stability. There’s no economic growth without political stability. Political stability is a prerequisite for economic growth and development. A politically unstable country cannot grow its economy because political instability creates an environment of uncertainty and risk, which can deter businesses from investing and expanding. Businesses are less likely to invest in new projects or hire new workers if they are not sure what the future holds. This can lead to slower economic growth and higher unemployment.
 Moreover, politically unstable countries are highly corrupt. When there is a lot of turnover in government, it is more difficult to hold officials accountable for their actions. This can create an environment where corruption is more likely to flourish. Corruption can divert resources away from productive uses and hinder economic development. The military juntas in Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali have absolute power and do not subject themselves to the democratic process of transparent governance and the system of checks and balances.
This potential federation is a utopia. It is realistically impossible due to the reasons elaborated in this article. And if it were to be implemented, it would not last because the foundations for economic prosperity are simply not there.
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# BRICS coalition attracts the largest African economy
Glenn CoreyNov 28, 20232 min readRated 0 out of 5 stars.No ratings yet
The bloc of so-called BRICS nations, whose founding members are Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, will as of January 1, welcome five new members: Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Ethiopia.
 Argentina was invited earlier this year, but that country’s newly elected president, Javier Milei, says he has no intention of joining the bloc because he does not wish to have economic ties with communist countries. This will bring the total membership in BRICS to eleven countries. However, forty other countries have expressed an interest in joining the coalition, including Africa’s largest economy, Nigeria.
 Recently, Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Yusuf Tuggar believes Nigeria meets the criteria for membership and will be accepted as a member of BRICS within the next two years. Nigeria has already been invited to join the G20. Said Tuggar: “Nigeria must belong to groups such as BRICS, G20, and all other blocs, because if there is a certain criterion, namely that the largest countries in terms of population and economic weight should be a part of it, then why is Nigeria not one of them?” Tuggar also added, “Nigeria will join all open groups as long as the intentions are good, benevolent, and clearly defined since it has reached the age to decide for itself who its partners are and where they should be.”
 The idea behind BRICS has a geopolitical element and an economic element, though the two aren’t always easily separated. The geopolitical element consists in challenging the hegemony of the United States and its Western allies in the global political/economic arena. Currently, because the U.S. dollar is the de facto world’s reserve currency (meaning it is not a legal requirement), most trade among nations is conducted in U.S. dollars.
 The BRICS nations aim to change that. Though the U.S. dollar dominates by far international trade (virtually all commodities, including oil, are traded in the currency), calls to conduct such trade in other currencies, in particular the Chinese yuan and Brazilian real, have become more vocal over the last year or two. When measured against the very low baseline, considerable progress has been made in moving away from the U.S. dollar as the currency of international trade, but alternatives to the U.S. dollar still have a long way to go.
 However, it has come far enough to attract the attention of some powerful people in the U.S., such as Marco Rubio, Republican Congressman from Florida, who earlier this year revealed one of the implications of using other currencies in international trade. Said Rubio, "there'll be so many countries transacting in currencies other than the dollar that we won't have the ability to sanction them." Of course, that is precisely the point from the BRICS perspective.
 Currently, the founding member states of BRICS are home to over 40 percent of the world’s population and 25 percent of global GDP. These numbers will, of course, grow considerably as more countries join the bloc. That will pose a serious challenge to U.S. dominance in both the geopolitical and economic arenas.
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