The article examines the degree of Nigeria’s attractiveness for foreign investors. The paper highlights the main problems that the latter face when they enter the Nigerian investment market. Those issues have acquired particular relevance in connection with Nigeria’s assuming a new economic role – since 2014 the country has become the largest economy on the African continent, surpassing that of South Africa. Great efforts are made in the country to achieve the role of the economic “locomotive” of the continent. At the same time, the strengthening of economic positions is turning the country into a regional power, which attracts special attention not only from African, but also from overseas players. The article examines the investment capacity of the Nigerian market, the availability of credit, the susceptibility to innovation and new technologies. At the same time, specific “bottlenecks” have been identified that reduce Nigeria’s external investment competitiveness, such as its underdeveloped infrastructure, electricity supply problems, crime, corruption, and others.

The research is motivated by the extensive literature on the role of African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in boosting intra-African trade. The main contribution of the research to the academic field is that the author comprehensively approaches the impact of the AfCFTA on a separate economy, whereas the majority of the papers on the issue has focused on general effects. We consider that South Africa holds an important position in regional trade and will significantly grow and diversify its exports to the rest of Africa, as tariff and non-tariff barriers are eventually relaxed or removed entirely. This study aims to estimate the trade potential for South Africa with the rest of the continent in the context of the upcoming AfCFTA. The research questions raised are: Are there any trade opportunities for South Africa in Africa? What are the potential markets in Africa which need policymakers’ attention as far as the African Continental Free Trade Area is concerned? The study evaluates trade potentials in two steps. First, existing trade flows between South Africa and its AfCFTA-partners are analyzed, and volume of exports and geographic distribution are surveyed. After that, indexes and trade indicators are computed to assess opportunities for South Africa’s exports in each country partner. The finding reveals that there are unexploited trade opportunities for South Africa on the continent. The four more effective options are Tunisia, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco. Nevertheless, South Africa is more likely to pay attention to less remote countries with high trade complementarity. Among them, there are Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Togo, Senegal, Cape Verde and Burundi. So, when designing the national African Continental Free Trade Area strategy, as it is done, South Africa could prioritize the issue of those markets.

The research is motivated by the extensive literature on the elevated levels of xenophobia in South Africa. The main contribution of the research to the academic field of ethnic conflict studies is that the author comprehensively approaches the determination of the level of xenophobia in South African society, whereas the majority of the literature on the issue has focused on the analysis of individual manifestations of xenophobic violence. This research was guided through three research questions: (1) what are the causes of xenophobia in South Africa? (2) What is the legal framework of South African policy addressing anti-migrant attacks? (3) What measures does the government of South Africa take to combat xenophobia? The principal purpose of the research is to help modernize South Africa’s policies, legislation and practices against xenophobia and related intolerance on the basis of the analysis proposed. Research methods included the study and analysis of literature and social surveys, the collection and analysis of factual materials, the study of documents, methods of quantitative and qualitative data processing. The article describes in detail the political, cultural, economic and socio-historical reasons of xenophobia and analyzes current policies of South Africa against anti-migrant attacks. As a result, the research illustrates what factors contribute to the spread of xenophobic violence and why the government’s actions to combat this social issue have so far been ineffective. The findings of the paper support the prediction that if the government pays attention to the roots of the problem, xenophobia in South African can be significantly reduced.

For the first time in the history of Russian African studies, the article examines the role of Nigeria and South Africa in their investments in the continent in order to determine the most influential regional power in Africa. Both countries have significant economic and military capabilities and actively influence domestic regions by developing trade and investment. Basing on the analysis of the investment volume from Nigeria and South Africa to other African countries the author shows the position of these states in regional integration associations. The study led to the conclusion that South Africa surpasses Nigeria in terms of accumulated FDI and has greater potential for their increase in the future due to the BRICS partnership and a more favorable investment climate compared to Nigeria. Consequently, foreign investments in new projects in South Africa contribute to the improvement of the countries status as an economic center of the region. At the same time, South Africa companies occupy strong positions among the countries of the continent, contributing to the development of integration. Their influence is so great that even the decline in investment activity on the continent in recent years does not give Nigeria the opportunity to question South Africa leading place.