Theories of Contemporary State Formation in Africa: a Reassessment

Abstract

The understanding of state formation in Africa depends on the analysis of attempts by Africans to build political institutions which suit their needs in an era when they have been faced with many constraints. These efforts take place in a setting of two dimensions: in time, as part of a history of indigenous culture and political traditions, colonial domination, nationalist independence movements, and the trials of new nationhood; and in space, as the activities of members of a world system of integrated economies and political relations, with a well-defined and sometimes brutally administered pecking-order of power and status. There have been a number of attempts to explain how state institutions in Africa have been created and built up, or perhaps how they have collapsed and been supplanted by alternative structures.