Postcolonial African States Research Articles

Pathways To African Unification: The Four Riders of The Storm

Research on African unification has not yet explained the reason for the belief in the possibility of post-colonial African states swiftly unifying as a federal or strong, functioning, supranational entity. This contribution attempts to fill this gap in the literature by exploring the various paths towards African unification. Some states pressing for unification misconstrued the history of the successful models that they insisted Africa could follow. This led to the assumption that a near frictionless and workable legal edifice for African unification could be easily created. This contribution has a twofold purpose: First, it draws attention to the importance of the intersection between history and law in construing and explaining the law as it relates to African unification. This is an intersection that has largely been ignored by scholars. Secondly, this contribution adds to the literature that asserts that African unification enthusiasts should reconsider mimicking other models in the expectation that this will help propel their goal of a united Africa. This study examines the routes to African unification, namely the role of socio-cultural interactions of Africans as propounded by Edward Blyden; the romantic speedy path as espoused by more radical forces by which the elite should muster the political will to bring a united Africa into existence; the role of force in creating a supranational Africa out of its independent states; and the role of market integration as an essential ingredient for any deeper and stronger relations among African states.

Bridges, bargains and brides: an empirical study on chiefly political endorsements in Ghana’s 2016 presidential election

ABSTRACT Political endorsements are becoming common in African elections. Endorsements by chiefs in Ghana's 2016 presidential election re-ignited debates on chiefs' involvement in partisan politics. But, (how) did the outcome of the election reflect chiefly endorsements? This article examines the relationship between chiefly political endorsements and election outcome. Data is extracted from online archives of select media outlets and Ghana's Electoral Commission; the analysis is framed in the duality of the postcolonial (African) state. Findings show a complex relationship across levels. The article argues that chiefly political endorsement is unnecessary and undercuts royal agency in community and national development.

The Oral Artist and Oppositional Politics in Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman and Denja Abdullahi’s Mairogo

In the context of modern societies, criticism of political leadership is located within the framework of formalized, democratized organizations, movements, and rights groups. These are modern paradigms within which dissenting factions of society express contradictory perspectives of the policies, actions or inactions of the leadership. This article examines the role of the social critic which oral artists played in traditional African societies in two selected literary works: Wole Soyinka’s Death and the King’s Horseman (1975) (a play) and Denja Abdullahi’s Mairogo (2009) (a dramatic poem). It also investigates how the symbolism-rich oral aesthetics aid the criticism. This essay regards the role of the oral artist in the society as a viable model of opposition which can be synthesized with aspects of the modern model. This would produce an effective medium for the expression of opinions and dissents against constituted authorities in postcolonial African societies. This exploration is crucial as postcolonial African states continue to grapple with the challenges of stabilizing their polity within a western framework which breeds factional rivalries and conflict between competing parties. This article concludes that re-thinking and merging traditional and modern paradigms of opposition discourse is fundamental to postcolonial African states attaining the needed environment crucial to their socio-political and economic development.

SOMALIA - CASE STUDY ON THE FRAGMENTATION OF AN ETHNICALLY AND CIVILIZATIONALLY HOMOGENEOUS STATE

Any lecture in geopolitics begins by stating that internal stability and territorial integrity of the state are the result of the interaction between secessionist, centrifugal forces, and unifying, centripetal forces. The same lecture in geopolitics also says that ethnic and confessional homogeneity falls into the category of the strongest centripetal forces, along with a round shape of the state territory, the centrality of the capital, a uniform distribution of transport and communications infrastructure, an equitable (as possible) distribution of wealth, of a strong national idea and will.
 Ethnically and religiously, Somalia is a homogeneous state. Moreover, all these ethnics do not boast of an identity other than Somali, and they all speak Somali - the official language of the state, along with Arabic - the language of the Koran. Somalia does not have the huge linguistic diversity specific to other post-colonial African states, there are no cultural-civilizational differences, there are no major discrepancies in terms of regional development and distribution of communications and transport infrastructure in the territory. And yet, the Somali state is the expression of the notion of a failed state, ravaged by civil war, secessionism, maritime piracy, terrorism, organized crime and insecurity. In recent years, Somalia has been consistently ranked among the most dangerous destinations in the world. In the first half of 2021, it ranked sixth in the top of the riskiest tourist destinations, after Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, South Sudan and Yemen[i].
 What are the causes of Somali secessionism and the collapse of the state? And, if we were to rank, according to the intensity of the effect, the secessionist factors acting on the territory of Somalia, what would be their ord
 
 1 Most Dangerous Countries in the World, World Population Review, https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/most-dangerous-countries, accessed on 11.07. 2021.

Sex, gender and Uvalo/Letswalo centred spirituality: in conversation with Gogo Mapitsi Mohoto

ABSTRACT In Male Daughters, Female Husbands (1987) Amadiume argues that the female orientation of Nnobi society and its emphasis on female industriousness is ‘derived from goddess Idemili – the ancestral religious deity’ (27). While Christianity dominates the outlook and conservatism of the post-colonial African state, we are seeing a growing public presence of African spiritual practitioners in southern Africa. The interview with Lieketso Gogo Mapitsi Mohoto reflects on her journey of becoming a healer. She uses the concept of ‘uvalo' to argue for deeper connected spiritual awareness within this practice of healing. Using the Nguni concept of uvalo, she refers to the fluid meaning of intuition also known as Umbilini among Xhosa-speaking people, while Sesotho speakers call it Letswalo. This intimate connection with the Divine can sometimes mean a sense of fear for ordinary people, while it promotes a deep sense of knowing for the spiritually conscious. Gogo Mapitsi's connections between spirituality and land, speak to Amadiume’s matrifocal understanding of productivity as linked to the goddess Idemili in Nnobi histories. Gogo Mapitsi reminds us that the multiple health, economic, psychological crises we face today are linked 'to how uvalo works.' She tells us that the 'cultivation of that inner knowing and the cultivation of trust in that knowing' is central to how a Sangoma understands and responds to the needs of their society.

Book Review: The Postcolonial African State in Transition: Stateness and Modes of Sovereignty

Book Review: The Postcolonial African State in Transition: Stateness and Modes of Sovereignty

‘IF YOU TROUBLE A HUNGRY SNAKE, YOU WILL FORCE IT TO BITE YOU’: RETHINKING POSTCOLONIAL AFRICAN ARCHIVAL PESSIMISM, WORKER DISCONTENT, AND PETITION WRITING IN GHANA, 1957–66

AbstractMy aim is twofold. Highlighting the value and importance of African archives in the construction of postcolonial African histories, I first reject what I call ‘postcolonial African archival pessimism’: the argument that postcolonial African archives are too disorganized or ill-kept to be of much, if any, value in configuring postcolonial African histories. Second, primarily through petition and complaint letters, I examine how Ghanaian workers protested racist and abusive workplace environments, government malfeasance, stagnating wages, and unfair dismissals in Kwame Nkrumah's Ghana. These archival gems illuminate how workers made claims to and performances of citizenship and reminded the state of their importance, politically and practically, to building the Ghanaian project. From Ghanaian and British archives, I seek to complement histories that highlight the centrality of African workers — through their letters and feet — in articulating the contradictions and aspirations of postcolonial African states.

Transformation of National Identity, Geo-politics and Nation Building in Post-colonial African States: The Cases of Cameroon and Senegal

This article examines the evolving nature of national identity and its significance to geo-politics and nation-building in post-colonial African states, specifically Cameroon and Senegal. Within the current global context, previous theories and scholars failed to explain how recent changes in national identity inform the choice of geo-politics in post-colonial Cameroon and Senegal. It is against this backdrop that this article examines the extent to which changes in elite and public perception on national identity transcended national borders and spilled over to the geo-political landscape. The paper relied on a mixed-method research design that combines elements of qualitative and quantitative techniques. The mixed-method approach is anchored on comparative case study techniques. The data were largely drawn from both primary and secondary sources; the primary sources included semi-structured interviews, and public statements, while the secondary sources comprised educational curriculums, Afrobarometer, World Bank data and the Swiss Economic Globalization Index. The outcome of the analysis showed that in recent years changes in national identity have transcended national borders and spilled over to the geo-political landscape. Findings revealed the extent to which the underlying features of national identity have been indigenized, Africanized and globalized to symbolize what it means to be a Cameroonian and Senegalese Citizen. Comparatively, it was established that Senegal has assumed a more dynamic image and position in geo-politics than Cameroon. Nonetheless, Cameroon’s and Senegal’s recent dynamic and versatile image accounts for the new type of national identity theorized in this paper as a form of strategic identity. The paper also highlighted the challenges and significance of strategic identity to issues of growth, nation and peace-building.

THE IRON GRIP OF GLOBAL NEO-LIBERALISM OVER POST-INDEPENDENT ZIMBABWE’S POLITICAL ECONOMY. A CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE

Ponte Academic JournalFeb 2021, Volume 77, Issue 2 THE IRON GRIP OF GLOBAL NEO-LIBERALISM OVER POST-INDEPENDENT ZIMBABWE’S POLITICAL ECONOMY. A CRITICAL PERSPECTIVEAuthor(s): Addmore T. Muruviwa ,NG Tshabalala, TG MuruviwaJ. Ponte - Feb 2021 - Volume 77 - Issue 2 doi: 10.21506/j.ponte.2021.2.10 Abstract:The wave of political self-determination in post-colonial African states from late 1960’s and, for Zimbabwe after 1980, was believed to be the turning point wherein post-colonial African states were to be fully independent from Western colonial powers. However, since then the influences, contestations and contradictions in the global political system in specific the collapse of the Cold War in 1989, has had marked the triumphant of global neo-liberalism. In light of this, the purpose of the paper was to offer an illustration of the Critical Theory on post-independent Zimbabwe’s political and economic trajectory. The results showed that, Zimbabwe’s continued subjugation did not only resonate from Western industrialized nations but from China, which has in the 21st century been competing against the hitherto global financial hegemony of the United States of America (USA) and expanding its neo-liberal power through giving interest-bearing loans to Zimbabwe from 2003 onwards. The paper concludes that, Zimbabwe’s political and economic trajectory like that of any other post-colonial African state can be attributed to the country’s on-going incorporation into the global political and economic system in a dominated and very extractive manner. Download full text:Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution Username Password

THE POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE, ABUSES OF POWER AND THE POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC PREDICAMENT OF POST-COLONIAL AFRICAN STATES. THE DILEMMA OF POST-INDEPENDENT ZIMBABWE

Ponte Academic JournalMar 2021, Volume 77, Issue 3 THE POLITICAL INDEPENDENCE, ABUSES OF POWER AND THE POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC PREDICAMENT OF POST-COLONIAL AFRICAN STATES. THE DILEMMA OF POST-INDEPENDENT ZIMBABWEAuthor(s): Addmore T. Muruviwa ,Nono G. Tshabalala, Tapiwa G. MuruviwaJ. Ponte - Mar 2021 - Volume 77 - Issue 3 doi: 10.21506/j.ponte.2021.3.3 Abstract:From 1980 onwards, one of the fundamental challenges that have been experienced by many Zimbabweans like any other post-colonial African societies is the rampant abuses of power by the post-independence national bourgeoisie. With this in mind, this study was triggered by a need to directly address the abuses of power by post-independent Zimbabwe’s government and thus, the fundamental objective of this paper was an illustration of Frantz Fanon’s contribution on post-colonial African states in relation to post-independent Zimbabwe’s political and economic predicament. A qualitative research method was followed. The findings showed that regardless of the available prospects for post-independent Zimbabwe’s national-development, there was an authoritarian government that abdicated its responsibilities to the masses by assuming the role of a parasitic national bourgeoisie that facilitates continued extraction of raw materials and exploitation of both society and resources. The study concluded that, what lies at the centre of post-independent Zimbabwe’s political and economic predicament is deliberate choices by senior members within the ZANU-PF government who for a period of more than three decades has had enable the exploitation of both society and national resources at the expense of national-development. Beyond that, the paper provided recommendations for a better post-colonial society. Download full text:Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution Username Password

The ‘state’ of postcolonial development: China–Rwanda ‘dependency’ in perspective

This paper aims to investigate the impact of China’s aid, trade and investments on the development trajectories in postcolonial Africa, focussed on Rwanda. The analytical framework of this study is informed by Helen Milner’s observation that ‘International political economy is a growth industry’. Furthermore, the study deploys dependency theory and world systems theory to examine how the global economic configuration operates though the hierarchy of core, semi-periphery and periphery among the states. Our focus on Rwanda is based on our observation that this small, landlocked, natural resources-deficient, aid-dependent country is an atypical destination for Chinese patronage and investments. We argue that as a non-resource rich country, Rwanda presents an anomaly, thus, underlining the gap in the existing knowledge on China–Africa engagements. We discuss the inherent dependency in the neoliberal economic structure and present a case for using dependency theory to understand and explain the contemporary globalised economy and emerging South–South cooperation. We conclude with a call for more in-depth cross-comparative research on China–Africa relations to grasp the magnitude of dependencies and economic transformations within postcolonial African states.

Building a Democratic Developmental State in Post-Colonial Africa: South Africa at the Glance

Abstract Failures of neo-liberalism in Africa through Structural Adjustment Program in the 1980s and 1990s compelled many post-colonial African states to seek alternative growth models to transform and grow their economies. Inspired by the economic success of Asian region, South Africa seeks to replicate the Asian developmental model to transform and industrialise its economy. Reviewing only the literature, the paper found that despite displaying so many similarities with East and South Asian developmental states, the rhetoric for the replication of the Asian developmental state model in South Africa works like a pendulum thus adopting a topsy-turvy approach. The notion of a developmental state is elevated through policy pronouncement and government commitments through the medium term and long-term strategic frameworks for the country. Despite displaying so many similarities with Asian developmental states, affixing the label of a developmental state onto the country by South Africans themselves is not going to make it one.

Oil Wealth, Corruption, and the Multiple F(Ph)aces of Internal Colonialism in Ahmed Yerima’s Hard Ground

This paper explores Ahmed Yerima’s play Hard Ground (2011) to show how Yerima employs dramatic elements to interrogate manifestations of corruption and internal colonialism engendered by violent struggles for oil wealth in the Niger Delta region. Some scholars from the Niger Delta region have alleged that Yerima’s Hard Ground falls short of being a “realistic” portrayal of the oil crisis in the Niger Delta. Their claim suggests that the play is an exercise in the service of the establishment. However, this study contends that Yerima’s representations of corruption and internal colonialism in the crisis are meant neither to underestimate the role of the establishment nor to overlook the suffering of the people in the region. The playwright’s portrayals of corruption and various forms of internal colonialism generating the oil crisis are informed by postcolonial, multiple, contradictory, and complementary realities/truths, which often reveal the complexities of socio-economic and political crises in the postcolonial African state. The study reveals that leadership egoism and failure are among the key factors that aggravate violent crises which recur in the region. In its conclusion, the paper asserts that the multiple insights that Yerima’s Hard Ground offers on the oil crisis call for collective efforts within the Niger Delta region in particular and Nigeria as whole at finding lasting solutions to the region’s crises orchestrated by the violent struggle for oil wealth.

Reassessing Aspects of the Contribution of African States to the Development of International Law Through African Regional Multilateral Treaties

For decades, debates about Africa’s contribution to the development of international law have been dominated by two opposing schools of thought. First, that European colonial powers deliberately erased Africa and Africans from the history of the creation and use of international law. Second, that, on the contrary, over the last six decades (since the emergence of the newly independent African states in the late 1950s and early 1960s), Africa has contributed to the making of international law and has not been merely a passive recipient of a Eurocentric international law. This article underscores the role of the postcolonial periphery in the scheme of modern international law by highlighting specific examples of African states’ contributions to international legal norms through multilateral treatymaking. To that end, this article assesses a number of African Union and Organisation of African Unity treaties for their content, relevance, and impact. It concludes that postcolonial African states have been active participants in developing new rules of international law—and strengthening existing ones—through the adoption of path-breaking conventions that work to either (1) establish African commitment to new norms with potential global application or (2) supplement existing global (United Nations) instruments with commitments specific to the African context. It also shines a light on the desirability and pertinence of regional diversity in the continuing development and application of international law, and on the changing geographies of international lawmaking.

The Failed Masculinist State in Africa: A Rejection of Phallic Man

African literature is famous for the depiction of a type of politics that tends to reflect the reality on the ground, spanning a panorama of incompetent leadership to gross political corruption. As a result, writing about politics in Africa tends to be a risky undertaking as many creative writers who criticize political leadership and corrupt practices in their works end up being jailed. Using contemporary African literature to discuss the postcolonial African Political State, this paper explores the nature of the state in West Africa in three novels, Chinua Achebe’s A Man of the People, Anthills of the Savannah and Sembene Ousmane’s Xala. Using the metaphor of an impotent masculinity, this paper argues that the political State in Africa is a failed one. From the dawn of independence to the era of democracy, the political state in Africa has had to grapple with failed leadership, corruption, injustice, the ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor etc., and it appears that these problems are becoming more.

Informality, Regulation and Predation : Governing Déby’s Chad

Au Tchad, les recettes générées par les pratiques fiscales informelles sont au cœur des finances publiques. Elles constituent une rente allouée aux alliés et à la clientèle politique des dirigeants au pouvoir. Ce phénomène s’est accéléré au milieu des années 2010 à la faveur de la baisse des cours internationaux du pétrole, mais aussi de la crise suscitée par l’essor de Boko Haram. À partir d’une enquête micro-économique de terrain, l’article interroge la manière dont ces évolutions de grande envergure ont amené le régime tchadien à réviser ses pratiques fiscales et à réorganiser ses réseaux d’échanges, tout en renforçant sa place centrale dans l’économie nationale. Au-delà du cas du Tchad, il s’agit aussi d’ouvrir des perspectives sur les dynamiques internes des États africains postcoloniaux.

Coloniality in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Americas

The objective of this article is to contribute to the development of a common narrative on coloniality in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Americas. Since scholars tend to focus on either Sub-Saharan Africa or the Americas, a gap between these important regions has emerged in the literature on coloniality. This article seeks to bridge this gap by providing a comparative perspective on coloniality, and this hopefully will enhance Indigenous African nations’ and Indigenous American nations’ understanding of what needs to be done to overcome coloniality. The article explores three key theses. First, in spite of the differences in the extant societal power structures in the postcolonial African states and the former settler colonial states in the Americas, this article argues that the continued dynamics of coloniality are similar in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Americas. The minority status of Indigenous American nations throughout the Americas renders addressing coloniality more challenging than in Sub-Saharan Africa where Indigenous African nations are in the majority although they generally do not have effective sovereignty. Second, the extant societal power structures associated with both coloniality and occidental modernity have weaponized occidental jurisprudence, natural science and social science to defend and proliferate the status quo assisted by state sovereignty. Addressing coloniality effectively therefore requires a renaissance of Indigenous African and Indigenous American cosmovisions unaffected by modernity. Third, addressing coloniality in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Americas requires the recognition of the comprehensive and supreme sovereignty of the Indigenous African nations in all of Sub-Saharan Africa, and Indigenous American nations in all of the Americas.

Early Eurocentric Criticism of Achebe and Postcolonial Realities in Africa

Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart has attracted a glut of global opinions on the nature and character of the work. This is to be expected as any good work of literature will elicit much scholarly criticism. Thus, this paper looks at the early Eurocentric criticism of Achebe’s novel Things Fall Apart. The study leans on bio-bibliographical approach to literary criticism. It tries to situate their conclusions within the realities of the postcolonial environment of most African societies and reaches the conclusion that features of culture clash and social dislocation which these critics misinterpreted, glossed over and out rightly dismissed have become the albatross of virtually all post-colonial African states.

Editors' Note

Editors' Note

Hamlet (RSC, 2016) and representations of diasporic blackness

In 2016 Paapa Essiedu, a British actor of Ghanaian ancestry, starred as Hamlet in Simon Godwin’s lauded Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) production, set in a post-colonial African state whose non-specificity nonetheless irritated some reviewers. We contend, however, that the production mixed multiple referents of blackness (Eastern African, West African, Caribbean, South African, 1970s African American) in order deliberately to create an imaginary post-colonial domain where these different kinds of diasporic blackness engaged with each other through the figure of Hamlet and his art. We therefore examine how the concept of race changes with the transatlantic or transnational movement among spaces in this production.