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African States and The Burdens They Bear
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 May 2014
Extract
In the early years of decolonization, following North African, Sudanese, and Ghanaian independence, the new African governments seemed to have an encouraging stability and set off on democratic and constitutional paths which gave evidence of promising well for the future. The turmoil which developed in the Congo immediately after independence stood out in contrast to the relative solidity of other states and found its explanation primarily in the shortcomings of the kind of rule which Belgium had imposed. Elsewhere the nationalist leaders who had led the struggle for freedom from alien domination continued in power and enhanced the sense that the new Africa was making headway.
More recently, things fall apart. Mutinies, assassinations, coups and attempted coups, and military takeovers have shaken confidence in Africa's ability to make speedy and consistent progress toward the goal it has set itself. It seemed at first as if the transition from colonialism to independence, from older worlds to modernity, might be an easier process than was feared by the pessimists, among whom, on the whole, I would number myself. Where does one have to look to find the reasons for the interruptions in the advance, or at all events for the change in direction, of so many African states? A fruitful field of inquiry, I am sure, is an examination of some of the problems confronting the new governments which were the successors to the colonial regimes in Africa, and the conditions under which they entered the world and must carry on their business. If I may give away my theme at the start, it would be essentially that governments have in a variety of ways been overloaded and unable to carry the burdens which they have assumed and which they have had thrust upon them.
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- Copyright © African Studies Association 1967
References
Notes
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