Development and Peace in Africa

Abstract

Development is not often regarded as a function of peace in both developmenttheory and development discourse. In the context of post-colonial Africa, bothinternal security and external security should be crucial considerations in thepursuit of development alternatives. The reason for considering developmentand security is that part of Africa’s development impasse can be attributed tointernal political terror since the Cold War. While development theory anddiscourse from modernisation theory to global neo-liberalism have dominated‘development’ strategies in Africa and produced an Africa bereft of development,political terror has systematically undermined both development andsecurity. Political terror, as sponsored by foreign forces and signified by collateraldamage, not only produced extensive fear and destabilisation, it hit at thevery core of development – human resources, political establishments and economicorder. The end of the Cold War has not seen an end to political terror inAfrica, but it has features that need to be considered for Africa’s developmentalternatives. Some of the features are the reduction in Africa’s foreign aid, disarmament,and the re-invention of the philosophical foundations of the statein Africa. This calls for a transition from a military state towards a developmentalstate with citizens participating to curb internal conflict and face the externalchallenges of the new post-Cold War global system.