AFRICA’S POLYTUNITY MOMENT
A Coevolutionary Tango

Executive Summary

Africa’s current polycrisis marked by a decline in traditional development aid and persistent systemic challenges is not merely a series of failures, but a symptom of a deeper flaw: the application of linear, mechanistic models to complex, adaptive economies. This paper applies Yuen Yuen Ang’s concept of “Polytunity” (Ang, 2025b; Ang, 2025c; Ang, 2025d) to argue that this moment of disruption should be viewed as an opportunity to adopt what Ang terms an Adaptive Political Economy (APE) framework (Ang, 2016; Ang, 2025a).

Ang’s APE framework is grounded in what she calls the AIM paradigm; Adaptive, Inclusive, Moral Political Economy (Ang, 2025b). It which provides three foundational commitments: replacing machine-thinking with systems-thinking (Adaptive), rejecting one-size-fits-all templates in favor of context-specific solutions (Inclusive), and acknowledging how power asymmetries shape whose knowledge and voices matter in defining development (Moral).

The APE framework, acknowledging complexity economics (Arthur, 2014), argues that sustainable prosperity requires a coevolutionary relationship between dynamic African marketers and agile meta-institutions – the operating system helping your applications run smoothly. These are not rigid blueprints, but adaptive governance mechanisms that, as Ang describes them, act to reduce transaction costs strategically, setting boundaries enabling grassroots innovation while repurposing existing assets. This approach demands a fundamental shift from top-down development models to strategies that are deeply aligned with local context, particularly the creative energy of African youth and the robust dynamism of the popular economy.

Drawing on case studies from across the Global South – from Kenya’s M-PESA to West Africa’s BCEAO payment system via Brazil’s PIX and Vietnam’s Doi Moi reforms – this paper demonstrates that coevolutionary transformation is already underway. Success is being driven by fintech, adaptive governance, and mission-oriented policies (Mazzucato, 2021) that leverage indigenous institutions like stokvels and chamas.

Ultimately, realizing this Polytunity requires a new social contract. We must transition from traditional, transactional partnerships to models of shared risk and collective reward, where the private sector actively invests in public capacity and the goal is to bring societies into the safe and just space outlined by Raworth’s Doughnut Economics framework (Raworth,2017). For Africa, this is the path from structural dependency to adaptive, mission-oriented sovereignty.

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