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In Foreign Policy, James Traub argues that in Africa, where over the past decade many countries have experienced an economic boom, what distinguishes the successes from the failures is good governance. Though foreign aid has played a role in many of the continent’s advances, Africa’s own economic growth has provided the resources that “have made social advances possible.” Whether many of these African countries have a resource curse or a resource boon will likely depend on the level of transparency and accountability of their governments, rather than the level of foreign aid. Traub noted that corruption “may prove to be the signal struggle of the next generation.”

“The moral of the story is not, ‘There's nothing the West can do,’ but rather, ‘It's not what we thought.’ Virtually all African countries still need aid for both targeted social investments and infrastructure, where in general it lags far behind Asia. But more than aid, they need trade and investment...But states will attract foreign investors only if they improve the investment climate, strengthen the rule of law and reduce corruption -- where the West can help with policy advice, training, and technology. It's not very heroic. ‘We’ -- the West -- cannot make poverty history; only ‘they’ can do that. The good news is that they're doing it.”