Africa’s Political Environment and the Challenge of Underdevelopment

Stephen Olufemi Obasa

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ss.20200906.15

| Peer-Reviewed

Africa’s Political Environment and the Challenge of Underdevelopment

Stephen Olufemi Obasa

Published in Social Sciences (Volume 9, Issue 6)

Received: 19 June 2020 Accepted: 22 August 2020 Published: 27 November 2020

Views: Downloads:

Download PDF

Share This Article

Twitter
Linked In
Facebook

Abstract

Over the last sixty years the principal agency of underdevelopment of Africa has been the international capitalist countries. Before the advent of the Europeans in Africa, the continent had robust economic, social and political structures because it was endowed with numerous inexhaustible both human and natural resources. These were seriously disrupted by the colonialists in the course of creating wealth for themselves through the means of exploitation. It is imperative to assert that the debate on the unprecedented political decay created by African political elite (the agents of colonialists) in power has dominated the political discourse among scholars from the region. Africa’s environment has been shrouded in political violence, poor electoral system, incessant military intervention, ethnic/tribal segregation and unity in diversity, rising political cleavages resulting from multi-party system, bad political culture, corruption, alienation of African women from politics, greed and sit-back leadership, dictatorship, foreign influence, religious diversity, administrative mediocrity, secession threat resulting from marginalization of minority, and bad governance. The political instability in the sub-Saharan African States has been the function of political environment, manifesting itself as a chronic symptom of the underdevelopment of political life within the imperialist context. Political environment in the sub-Saharan African States can be explained based on the legacy of political authoritarianism inherited from the colonialists, a factor which resulted to political conflicts, instability and dictatorship. The political authoritarianism of the colonial states is a direct source of the authoritarianism that has plagued Africa. Colonialism created and shaped identities and cleavages in dysfunctional way as political centralization involves one clan dominating another. The conjunctivitis created by the underdevelopment trajectories has called for in-depth investigation into Africa’s underdevelopment in the light of political advancement of the ‘Asian Tiger’ so that efforts towards experiencing political environment with high propensity of political advancement in the sub-Saharan African States could be attained. The study intended to apply the theories of modernisation and dependency to explain Africa’s underdevelopment. Qualitative method will be utilised in the study.

Published in	Social Sciences (Volume 9, Issue 6)
DOI	10.11648/j.ss.20200906.15
Page(s)	241-252
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Africa, Political Environment, Underdevelopment

References

[1]	Ake, Claude (2013). The political Economy of Crisis and Underdevelopment in Africa. Nigeria: Third Worl Publication. p. 19-29.
[2]	Johnson, Chalmers (1982). “MITI and the Japanese Miracle: the growth of industrial policy”, pp. 1925–1975. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. In Measuring Corruption in Africa Governance: The international dimension matters. Report IV.
[3]	United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), 2016.
[4]	Rodney, W. (1972) How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. London: Bogle Louverture Publication. p. 9.
[5]	Sen, A. (1999). Development as Freedom. USA: Anchor Books.
[6]	Feldman, M., Hadjmichael, T., Kemeny, T., & Lanaham, L (2016). ‘The Logic ofEconomic Development: A definition and Model for investment’. Environment and Planning C: Government, vol. 34(1), pp. 1-21.
[7]	Todaro, P. M. & Smith, S. (2015). Economic Development, 12th Edition. Harlow England: Pearson Education Limited.
[8]	Shirley, M. M. 2005. Institutions and Development. Handbook of New Institutional Economics. Dordrecht, Springer.
[9]	Rostow, W. W. (1960). "The Five Stages of Growth-A Summary". The Stages of Economic Growth: A Non-Communist Manifesto. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 4–16. Archived from the original on 2013-02-23
[10]	Hoogevelt, A. (1978). The Sociology of Developing Societies. London: Macmillan.
[11]	Abdul-Rahoof, Adebayo. B., Okeke, G. S. M., Otubanjo, O. & Pogoson, I. (2015) Politics of Development and Underdevelopment Lagos: National Open University of Nigeria.
[12]	Meier, G. M. & Robert, E. B. (1957). Economic Development: Theory, History and Policy.
[13]	Myint, H. (1978). ‘The “Classical Theory” of International Trade and Underdeveloped Countries’, London and Toronto: Oxford University Press, pp. 118-46 (Originally published in the Economic Journal, June 1958, pp 317-37).
[14]	Dickson, J. P. (1983). A Geography of the Third World. London: Methuen and Co. Ltd. p. 15.
[15]	Todaro, P. M. (1997). An Introduction to Principles, Problems and Policies for Development. London: Longman Group.
[16]	Andre, G. F. (`1969), Latin America: Underdevelopment or Revolution, (New York: Monthly review.
[17]	Nnamani, L. (2009). Politics of Development. Nigeria, Enugu: Jacob’s Classic Publishers Ltd.
[18]	Easton, David. (1965). A Framework for Political Analysis. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.
[19]	Dick Howards {2010). The primacy of Political: A History of Political Thought from the Greeks to the French and American Revolutions. Colombia Universiity Press, DOI: 10.7321/howa 13594.
[20]	Crick, B (1973). In Defence of Politics. Penguin Books.
[21]	Leftwich, A. (2004). What is Politics?: The Activity and its Study. ISBN 978-0745-63055-7
[22]	Lasswell, H. (1935). Psychopatho, logy and Politics. Chicago.
[23]	Jayapalan, N. (2002). Comprehensive Modern Political Analysis. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers ans Distributors.
[24]	Marshall, M. G. (2005). Conflict Trends in Africa, 1946-2004 A Micro-Comparative Perspective. Report prepared for the Africa Conflict Prevention Pool (ACPP) Government of the United Kingdom October 14, 2005 This report was funded by the Department for International Development.
[25]	ACLED, (Armed Conflict Location and Event Data set) (2004). In The Challenge of Stability and Security in West Africa. ed. Alexandre Marc, Neelam Verjee, and Stephen Mogaka. International Bank for Reconciliation and Development/The World Bank.
[26]	Tanzi, Vito (2002). “Corruption Around the World: Causes, Consequences, Scope, and Cures”. In Governance, Corruption, and Economic Performance, George T. Abed and Sanjeev Gupta, eds. Washington, D.C.: International Monetary Fund, 23 September.
[27]	Svensson, Jakob (2005). “Eight Questions about Corruption”. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 19 (3) (Summer), pp. 19–42.
[28]	Gyimah-Brempong, Kwabena (2002). ‘Corruption, economic growth and income inequality in Africa’. Economics of Governance, vol. 3, No. 3, pp. 183–209.
[29]	Gumede, W. (2012). Africans inherited Corruption.https://www.iol.co.za/sundayindependent/africans-inherited-corruption-1259448
[30]	Osoba, S. O. (1996) "Corruption in Nigeria: Historical Perspectives", Review of African Political Economy, 69: 371-386.
[31]	Robb, G. (1992). White-collar Crime in Modern England. London: Cambridge University Press.
[32]	Nabudere, D. (1982). Imperialism in East Africa: Imperialism and Integration. London: Zed Press.
[33]	Wengraf, L. (n.d.). Legacies of Colonialism in Africa: Imperialism, dependence, and development. International Social Review (ISR). Retrieved 28 June, 2018 from http://isreview.org/issue/103/legacies-colonialism.
[34]	Inglehart, R. (2000). “Culture and Democracy”, in Harrison, L. e Huntington, S. (eds).
[35]	Almond, G. & Verba, S. (1963). The Civic Culture, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
[36]	Owusu, M. (1971). Cultureand Democracy in West Africa: Some Persistent Problems. Academe and Africa (Jan. 1971). Pp. 68-76.
[37]	Huntington, S. P. (1968). Political Order in Changing Societies. New Haven and London, Yale University Press.
[38]	Chua, A. (2003). World on fire: How exporting free market democracy breeds ethnic hatred and global instability. New York: Doubleday.
[39]	Glickman, H. (1995). Ethnic conflict and democratization in Africa. Atlanta, GA: African Studies Association Press.
[40]	Ottaway, M. (1998). ‘Ethnic politics in Africa’. In R. Joseph (Ed.), State, conflict and democracy in Africa. pp. 299-318. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner.
[41]	Sisk, T., & Reynolds, A. (1998). Elections and conflict management in Africa. Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press.
[42]	Smith, Z. K. (2000). “The impact of political liberalization and democratization on ethnic conflict in Africa: An empirical test of common assumptions”. Journal of Modern.
[43]	Young, C. (2012) The Post-Colonial State in Africa: A Half-Century of Independence, 1960– 2010. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2012.
[44]	Posner, D. N. (2007). Regime Change and Ethnic Cleavages in African. Competitive Political Studies, 40 (11), November 2007 Sage Publications.
[45]	Tutu II, O. (2004). Traditional Systems of Governance and the Modern State, Keynote address presented at the Fourth African Development Forum, Addis Ababa, October 12, 2004.
[46]	Otieno, O. (2008). Political instability in Africa where the problem lies and alternative perspectives. The African Diaspora Policy Centre, Amsterdam.
[47]	McGraw, Patrick J. (2005). “Coups and Conflict in West Africa, 1955-2004, Part 1, Theoretical Perspectives”. Armed Forces and Society, Sage Journals.
[48]	Callaghy, T. (1984). The state-society struggle: Zaire in comparative perspective. New York: Columbia University Press.
[49]	Chabal, P., & Daloz, J.-P. (1999). Africa works: Disorder as political instrument. Oxford, UK: James Currey.
[50]	Jackson, R., & Rosberg, C. (1982). Personal rule in black Africa: Prince, autocrat, prophet, tyrant. Berkeley: University of California Press.
[51]	Manning, C. (2005). Assessing African party systems after the third wave. Party Politics, 11(6), 707-727.
[52]	Van de Walle, N. (2005). Democratic Reform in Africa. United States: Lynne Reinner Publishers.
[53]	Agbaje, D. O. & Roberts, Y (2000). Meeting the Challenge of Sustainable Democracy in Nigeria, Ibadan: NISER.
[54]	Nkrumah, K. (1965). Neo-colonialism: The last stage of imperialism. Melbourne: Thomas Nelson (Australia) Ltd.
[55]	Dos Santos, T. (1970). ‘The structure of dependence’. The American Economic Review, 6 (2), 231-236.
[56]	McCoy, S. (2001). ‘The African paradox: The tribalist implications of the colonial paradox’. Drake Undergraduate social science journal, Spring.
[57]	Wallerstein, I. (1976). The modern world-system: Capitalist agriculture and the origins of the European world-economy in the sixteenth century. New York: Academic Press.
[58]	Allahar, A. (1995). Sociologyand the periphery: Theories and issues (2nd edition). Toronto: Garamond Press.
[59]	Tavares, J. & Wacziarg, R. (2001). “How democracy fosters growth”. European Economic Review 45, 1341–13.
[60]	Montalvoa, J. G. & Reynal-Querol, M. (2003). “Religious polarization and economic development”, Economics Letters, 80, 201–210.
[61]	Beran, H. (1998). ‘A Democratic Theory of Political Self-Determination for a NewWorld Order’, in P. B. Lehning (ed.), Theories of. Secession (London: Routledge, 1998), p. 39.
[62]	Raz, J. (1986). The Morality of Freedom, Oxford: Clarendon Press.
[63]	Margalit, A. & Raz, J.. (1990). National Self-Determination, The Journal of Philosophy 87:9 (September). Reprinted in Global Ethics: Seminal Essays.
[64]	Buchanan, N. S. & Ellis, H. S. (1995). Approaches to Economic Development. New York: The Twentieth Century Fund Inc.
[65]	Shehade, K.. (1993). Ethnic Self-determination and the Break-up of States, Adelphi Papers 283. London: Brassey’s for The International Institute for Strategic Studies.
[66]	World Order’. In Percy B. Lehning (ed.), Theories of Secession. London: Routledge.
[67]	Bereketead, R. (2015). Self-Determination and Succession in Africa: The Post-Colonial State. New York: Routledge.
[68]	Free-man, M. (1999). The Right to Self-Determination in International Studies, vol. 25, No. 3 (Jul. 1999), pp. 355-370, Cambridge University Press.
[69]	Steiner, H. (1998). ‘Territorial Justice’, in Percy B. Lehning (ed.), Theories of Secession. London and New York: Routledge.
[70]	Castellino, J. (2008). ‘Territorial Integrity and the “Right” to Self-Determination: An examination of the Conceptual Tools, 33 Brook. J. Int'l L. Available at: https://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/bjil/vol33/iss2/15
[71]	Trezcinski, K. (2004). ‘The Significance of Geographic Location for the Success of Territorial Secession: African example’, Miscellanea Geographica (Warsaw), vol. 11, pp. 207–217.
[72]	Strauss, S. (2012). “Wars do end ends! Changing Patterns of Political Violence in sub- Saharan Africa”. African Affairs, 111/443, 179-201.
[73]	Mazrui, A. (1980). The African Condition. (Reith Lectures). London: Heimann.
[74]	Harrison, P. (1987). Inside the Third World. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 2nd Edition (revised).
[75]	Otonti, N. (2006). The Roots of African Underdevelopment and Other Essays. Ibadan: Spectrum Limited.
[76]	Scott, C. V. (1995). Gender and development: Rethinking modernization and dependency theory. Boulder: Lynne Rienner. Women and Development in Africa: From Marginalization to Gender Inequality
[77]	Lovett, M. (1989). "Gender relations, class formation, and the colonial state in Africa." In Jane L. Parpart and Kathleen A. Staudt (Eds.) Women and the state in Africa. (pp. 23- 46). Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
[78]	Cutrulli, M. R. (1983). Women of Africa: Roots ofoppression. London: Zed. D.
[79]	Anunobi, Fredoline (2002) Women and Development in Africa: From Marginalization to Gender Inequality, African Social Science Review: 2(2):3.
[80]	Herbeson, J. & Rothchild, D. (2018). Africa in World Politics, sixth edition, Routledge.
[81]	Davidson, B. (1994). The Search for Africa: History, Culture, and Politics. New York: Times Books.
[82]	Hyden, Gordan (2013). African Politics in Comparative Perspective. 2d ed. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
[83]	Herbst, J. (2000). States and Power in Africa: Comparative Lessons in Authority and Control. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
[84]	Young, C. (2006). “The heart of the Africa conflict zone: Democratization, ethnicity, civil conflict and the Great Lakes crisis”. Annual Review of Political Science, 9, 301-328.
[85]	Fage, J. D. & Oliver, R. (1982). The Cambridge History of Africa, From the Earliest Times to C.500 BC. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. vol. 1, p. 1
[86]	Department of Education, Louisiana Believes (n.d.). World Geography: Unit 6 https://www.loisianabelieves.com/.../task.socialstudies...world.geography...coloni...
[87]	Nkomazana, F. (1998). ‘Livingstone’s ideas of Christianity, Commerce, and Civilization’. Botswana Journal of African Studies, 12 (1&2).
[88]	Ogot, A. (1988). Africa Historiography: From Colonial histography to UNESCO’s general history of Africa.
[89]	Hodgkin, T. (1957). Nationalism in Colonial Africa. New York: New York University Press.
[90]	Harben, J. & Rothchild, D. (2013). Africa in World Politics: Reforming Political Order. 5th ed. Boulder, CO: Westview.
[91]	Tupy M. L. (2010) Africa needs free market economies. Global post, Africa.
[92]	Adamu, A. (2017). African Political Economy and the quest for free market: Challenges and Prospects. Review Pub Administration Manag 5:221. doi: 10.4172/2315-7844.1000221
[93]	Agbor-Baiyee, B. (2011). Can Africa Compete in a Global Economy? In House-Sorekun, B. And Falola, T., Globalization and Sustainable Development in Africa. Boydell and Brower: University of Rochester Press, 51: 43-68.

Cite This Article

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Stephen Olufemi Obasa. (2020). Africa’s Political Environment and the Challenge of Underdevelopment. Social Sciences, 9(6), 241-252. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20200906.15

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Stephen Olufemi Obasa. Africa’s Political Environment and the Challenge of Underdevelopment. Soc. Sci. 2020, 9(6), 241-252. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20200906.15

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Stephen Olufemi Obasa. Africa’s Political Environment and the Challenge of Underdevelopment. Soc Sci. 2020;9(6):241-252. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20200906.15

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ss.20200906.15,
  author = {Stephen Olufemi Obasa},
  title = {Africa’s Political Environment and the Challenge of Underdevelopment},
  journal = {Social Sciences},
  volume = {9},
  number = {6},
  pages = {241-252},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ss.20200906.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20200906.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ss.20200906.15},
  abstract = {Over the last sixty years the principal agency of underdevelopment of Africa has been the international capitalist countries. Before the advent of the Europeans in Africa, the continent had robust economic, social and political structures because it was endowed with numerous inexhaustible both human and natural resources. These were seriously disrupted by the colonialists in the course of creating wealth for themselves through the means of exploitation. It is imperative to assert that the debate on the unprecedented political decay created by African political elite (the agents of colonialists) in power has dominated the political discourse among scholars from the region. Africa’s environment has been shrouded in political violence, poor electoral system, incessant military intervention, ethnic/tribal segregation and unity in diversity, rising political cleavages resulting from multi-party system, bad political culture, corruption, alienation of African women from politics, greed and sit-back leadership, dictatorship, foreign influence, religious diversity, administrative mediocrity, secession threat resulting from marginalization of minority, and bad governance. The political instability in the sub-Saharan African States has been the function of political environment, manifesting itself as a chronic symptom of the underdevelopment of political life within the imperialist context. Political environment in the sub-Saharan African States can be explained based on the legacy of political authoritarianism inherited from the colonialists, a factor which resulted to political conflicts, instability and dictatorship. The political authoritarianism of the colonial states is a direct source of the authoritarianism that has plagued Africa. Colonialism created and shaped identities and cleavages in dysfunctional way as political centralization involves one clan dominating another. The conjunctivitis created by the underdevelopment trajectories has called for in-depth investigation into Africa’s underdevelopment in the light of political advancement of the ‘Asian Tiger’ so that efforts towards experiencing political environment with high propensity of political advancement in the sub-Saharan African States could be attained. The study intended to apply the theories of modernisation and dependency to explain Africa’s underdevelopment. Qualitative method will be utilised in the study.},
 year = {2020}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Africa’s Political Environment and the Challenge of Underdevelopment
AU  - Stephen Olufemi Obasa
Y1  - 2020/11/27
PY  - 2020
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20200906.15
DO  - 10.11648/j.ss.20200906.15
T2  - Social Sciences
JF  - Social Sciences
JO  - Social Sciences
SP  - 241
EP  - 252
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2326-988X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20200906.15
AB  - Over the last sixty years the principal agency of underdevelopment of Africa has been the international capitalist countries. Before the advent of the Europeans in Africa, the continent had robust economic, social and political structures because it was endowed with numerous inexhaustible both human and natural resources. These were seriously disrupted by the colonialists in the course of creating wealth for themselves through the means of exploitation. It is imperative to assert that the debate on the unprecedented political decay created by African political elite (the agents of colonialists) in power has dominated the political discourse among scholars from the region. Africa’s environment has been shrouded in political violence, poor electoral system, incessant military intervention, ethnic/tribal segregation and unity in diversity, rising political cleavages resulting from multi-party system, bad political culture, corruption, alienation of African women from politics, greed and sit-back leadership, dictatorship, foreign influence, religious diversity, administrative mediocrity, secession threat resulting from marginalization of minority, and bad governance. The political instability in the sub-Saharan African States has been the function of political environment, manifesting itself as a chronic symptom of the underdevelopment of political life within the imperialist context. Political environment in the sub-Saharan African States can be explained based on the legacy of political authoritarianism inherited from the colonialists, a factor which resulted to political conflicts, instability and dictatorship. The political authoritarianism of the colonial states is a direct source of the authoritarianism that has plagued Africa. Colonialism created and shaped identities and cleavages in dysfunctional way as political centralization involves one clan dominating another. The conjunctivitis created by the underdevelopment trajectories has called for in-depth investigation into Africa’s underdevelopment in the light of political advancement of the ‘Asian Tiger’ so that efforts towards experiencing political environment with high propensity of political advancement in the sub-Saharan African States could be attained. The study intended to apply the theories of modernisation and dependency to explain Africa’s underdevelopment. Qualitative method will be utilised in the study.
VL  - 9
IS  - 6
ER  -

Copy | Download

Author Information

Stephen Olufemi Obasa

Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Faculty of Social Sciences, Redeemer’s University, Ede, Osun State, Nigeria

Download PDF

Sections

Plain Text BibTeX RIS

APA Style

Stephen Olufemi Obasa. (2020). Africa’s Political Environment and the Challenge of Underdevelopment. Social Sciences, 9(6), 241-252. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20200906.15

Copy | Download

ACS Style

Stephen Olufemi Obasa. Africa’s Political Environment and the Challenge of Underdevelopment. Soc. Sci. 2020, 9(6), 241-252. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20200906.15

Copy | Download

AMA Style

Stephen Olufemi Obasa. Africa’s Political Environment and the Challenge of Underdevelopment. Soc Sci. 2020;9(6):241-252. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20200906.15

Copy | Download

@article{10.11648/j.ss.20200906.15,
  author = {Stephen Olufemi Obasa},
  title = {Africa’s Political Environment and the Challenge of Underdevelopment},
  journal = {Social Sciences},
  volume = {9},
  number = {6},
  pages = {241-252},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ss.20200906.15},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20200906.15},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ss.20200906.15},
  abstract = {Over the last sixty years the principal agency of underdevelopment of Africa has been the international capitalist countries. Before the advent of the Europeans in Africa, the continent had robust economic, social and political structures because it was endowed with numerous inexhaustible both human and natural resources. These were seriously disrupted by the colonialists in the course of creating wealth for themselves through the means of exploitation. It is imperative to assert that the debate on the unprecedented political decay created by African political elite (the agents of colonialists) in power has dominated the political discourse among scholars from the region. Africa’s environment has been shrouded in political violence, poor electoral system, incessant military intervention, ethnic/tribal segregation and unity in diversity, rising political cleavages resulting from multi-party system, bad political culture, corruption, alienation of African women from politics, greed and sit-back leadership, dictatorship, foreign influence, religious diversity, administrative mediocrity, secession threat resulting from marginalization of minority, and bad governance. The political instability in the sub-Saharan African States has been the function of political environment, manifesting itself as a chronic symptom of the underdevelopment of political life within the imperialist context. Political environment in the sub-Saharan African States can be explained based on the legacy of political authoritarianism inherited from the colonialists, a factor which resulted to political conflicts, instability and dictatorship. The political authoritarianism of the colonial states is a direct source of the authoritarianism that has plagued Africa. Colonialism created and shaped identities and cleavages in dysfunctional way as political centralization involves one clan dominating another. The conjunctivitis created by the underdevelopment trajectories has called for in-depth investigation into Africa’s underdevelopment in the light of political advancement of the ‘Asian Tiger’ so that efforts towards experiencing political environment with high propensity of political advancement in the sub-Saharan African States could be attained. The study intended to apply the theories of modernisation and dependency to explain Africa’s underdevelopment. Qualitative method will be utilised in the study.},
 year = {2020}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - Africa’s Political Environment and the Challenge of Underdevelopment
AU  - Stephen Olufemi Obasa
Y1  - 2020/11/27
PY  - 2020
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20200906.15
DO  - 10.11648/j.ss.20200906.15
T2  - Social Sciences
JF  - Social Sciences
JO  - Social Sciences
SP  - 241
EP  - 252
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2326-988X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20200906.15
AB  - Over the last sixty years the principal agency of underdevelopment of Africa has been the international capitalist countries. Before the advent of the Europeans in Africa, the continent had robust economic, social and political structures because it was endowed with numerous inexhaustible both human and natural resources. These were seriously disrupted by the colonialists in the course of creating wealth for themselves through the means of exploitation. It is imperative to assert that the debate on the unprecedented political decay created by African political elite (the agents of colonialists) in power has dominated the political discourse among scholars from the region. Africa’s environment has been shrouded in political violence, poor electoral system, incessant military intervention, ethnic/tribal segregation and unity in diversity, rising political cleavages resulting from multi-party system, bad political culture, corruption, alienation of African women from politics, greed and sit-back leadership, dictatorship, foreign influence, religious diversity, administrative mediocrity, secession threat resulting from marginalization of minority, and bad governance. The political instability in the sub-Saharan African States has been the function of political environment, manifesting itself as a chronic symptom of the underdevelopment of political life within the imperialist context. Political environment in the sub-Saharan African States can be explained based on the legacy of political authoritarianism inherited from the colonialists, a factor which resulted to political conflicts, instability and dictatorship. The political authoritarianism of the colonial states is a direct source of the authoritarianism that has plagued Africa. Colonialism created and shaped identities and cleavages in dysfunctional way as political centralization involves one clan dominating another. The conjunctivitis created by the underdevelopment trajectories has called for in-depth investigation into Africa’s underdevelopment in the light of political advancement of the ‘Asian Tiger’ so that efforts towards experiencing political environment with high propensity of political advancement in the sub-Saharan African States could be attained. The study intended to apply the theories of modernisation and dependency to explain Africa’s underdevelopment. Qualitative method will be utilised in the study.
VL  - 9
IS  - 6
ER  -

Copy | Download