UNDERSTANDING AFRICAN POLITICS

In: Review of African political economy, Band 65, Heft 22, S. 301-320

Abstract

GENERALIZATION ABOUT AFRICAN POLITICS IS MADE DIFFICULT BY THE EXTENT TO WHICH AFRICAN STATES DIFFER FROM ONE ANOTHER. THIS ARTICLE DISCUSSES WHETHER IT IS NEVERTHELESS POSSIBLE TO UNDERSTAND AFRICAN STATES AS EXAMPLES OF THE SAME POLITICAL SYSTEM. IT ARGUES THAT BY COMPARING THE HISTORICAL PATTERNS OF POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICAN STATES, ONE CAN IDENTIFY A LIMITED NUMBER OF DISTINCT HISTORICAL PATHS. SUBSEQUENTLY DIVERGENT PATHS AROSE FROM DIFFERING RESPONSES TO EARLY POST-INDEPENDENCE POLITICAL CRISIS, PRODUCING CONTRASTING FORMS OF POLITICS AND CORRESPONDING POLITICAL SYSTEMS. FURTHER DIFFERENTIATION HAS ARISEN FROM POPULAR RESPONSES TO THE BREAKDOWN OF THESE FORMS. A MODEL OF THE PROCESS OF POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT IN POST-WAR AFRICA IS SET OUT AND USED TO CRITICIZE SEVERAL RECENT ATTEMPTS AT CHARACTERIZATION OF AFRICAN POLITICS IN WHICH EITHER STATES BELONGING TO ONE HISTORICAL PATH ARE TREATED AS REPRESENTATIVE OF ALL AFRICAN STATES, OR IN WHICH STATES FROM DIFFERENT PATHS ARE SEEN AS EXAMPLES OF THE SAME POLITICAL PROCESS.