Reading Group Schedule

CONTEMPORARY Black Africa can be divided into wide regions which are clearly different from one another. But it is more difficult to analyse these differences – and to study their nature, origin, and effects – than to see them.

The unity of Black Africa is, none the less, not without foundations. On the contrary, leaving aside the question of ‘race’ – in Africa, they are no more homogenous nor less mixed, since pre-historical times, than are the other ‘ races’, whether white, yellow, or red – the common or kindred cultural background, and the striking similarities of social organisation, make a living unity of Black Africa. This physical reality, extensive and rich, did not wait for colonial conquest to borrow from, or give of itself to, the other wide regions of the Old World – the Mediterranean in particular, but also Europe and Asia. The image of an ancient, isolated and introverted Africa no longer belongs to this age: isolation – naturally associated with a so-called ‘primitive’ character – only corresponded to an ideological necessity born out of colonial racism. But these exchanges did not break the unity of Africa; on the contrary, they helped to assert and enrich the African personality. The colonial conquest of almost the whole of this continent strengthened this feeling of unity in Black Africa. Seen from London, Paris, or Lisbon, Black Africa appeared to European observers as a homogenous entity, just as the North Americans regard Latin America as a continent which extends south of the Rio Grande. […]

THE SUBTLE RECOLONIZATION OF AFRICA

Politics has been defined variously as organizing for human projects, struggle for power, or about who gets what, when, and how. Organizing for human projects gives politics a broader spectrum involving whatever humans do, the notion of struggle for power narrows the definition to the arena of authority in society, and the notion of who gets what, when, and how links politics to economics (the production and distribution of wealth) as close allies. The politics of one-sided adjustment in Africa embraces all three of these definitions. The author expresses the view that structural adjustment in Africa does not conform to natural justice, is one-sided, and not primarily concerned with solutions to economic problems in Africa but about organizing for human projects in which decisions about who gets what, when, and how have become the source of the power struggle between the Bretton Woods institutions and African leaders. This struggle may be conceived as an attempt by the Bretton Woods institutions to recolonize Africa on behalf of their allies while African leaders strive to resist that new form of colonialism. The allies of the Bretton Woods organizations are the Western governments, international businesses, the commercial banks of the West, and some neoliberal intellectuals. […]

QUESTIONS about the role and position of the African state are not new, but today they are being asked with increased emphasis. The reasons for this vary with the position and perspective of the questioner, but they often include a concern about capacity and performance, about styles and orientations of leadership, and about the measure of representativeness and legitimacy which African governments enjoy within the society at large. In short, a strong current of opinion believes that there is a problem with the African state, and this concern has recently led to much discussion as to what its proper role is or should be, as well as fostering a variety of proposed and actual interventions by international organisations and consultants to help ‘solve’ the problem.
It would be futile to try and reverse the picture and assert that there is no ‘problem’ with the African state. In fact, few people today would take that position. None the less, it will be useful to try and place existing preoccupations in perspective by highlighting some aspects of the debates on African state formation in the post-colonial period. Given the scope of the subject matter, it will be necessary to limit the perspective to some observations, on some aspects, of this discussion – which itself has been as much subject to change and revision as the African state itself. Thus, this article will not be discussing the role of the military, or the important question of democratisation, except indirectly.