# Afro-pessimism  
In the wake of pervasive debt crises, structural adjustment, and neoliberalization in the 1980s, Afro-pessimism entered into development narratives about subSaharan Africa to describe a host of phenomena at the intersection of governance, political economy, and representation. These included: the effects of Africa's misrepresentation in the Western media on investment, donor fatigue, and development; the exacerbation of the continent's marginalization and exclusion through the circulation of racist stereotypes and derogatory constructions; the effects of neocolonialism on African governance and development potential; the (in)ability of Africans to govern themselves given rampant corruption and economic stagnation; and the question of whether Africa should be recolonized or excised from the global community because of its alleged political and economic failures. Other considerations included the possibility of internal peace, accountability (or lack thereof), the link between political liberalism and growth, and the necessity of democratization to the success of economic market reforms. Afro-pessimism and its ideological corollary, Afro-optimism (or Africa rising), persisted well into the first decade of the twenty-first century, manifested, for example, in The Economist's conceptualizations of Africa, bookended by the notorious 'Hopeless Africa' article of 2000 and a 2011 article positively entitled 'Africa rising'.