Post-colonial Period in the History of Africa: Development Challenges

Abstract

The process of gaining independence in Africa was accompanied by the intensified colonial liberation movements, elite struggle for power, and the formation of new state borders. Having received formal sovereignty, African countries faced the challenge of building their own identity. However, most metropoles continued to actively intervene in the affairs of the former colonies under the pretext of assisting them in state-building, forming of the economic and military systems. Therefore, metropoles managed to subsequently control development process. A new type of colonialism was launched, characterized by a low level of predictability and foresight. This trends mainly fit with neo-patrimonialism, which focuses on the legitimacy search and artificial statehood creation. The emergence of a new African political elite in the postcolonial period, formed at the expense of the army and senior military officials, was accompanied by the search for an effective development path and attempts to assure a fragile balance between tradition and modernization. This served to aggravate economic, and then political dependence of African states on global economic institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. One of the key challenges of the postcolonial period in Africa is the blurring of borders and, as a consequence, the rise of ethno-religious problems. Attempts to resolve this kind of threats lead to the intervention of both intra-regional non-state actors and external powers.