Alternative Patterns of Integration in African States
In: The journal of modern African studies: a quarterly survey of politics, economics & related topics in contemporary Africa, Band 14, Heft 4, S. 577-596
ISSN: 1469-7777
Although it has long been realised that 'developing' countries do not have to follow the example of 'developed' nations, the mere use of the terms 'nation-building' and 'national integration' implies a straight line of 'progress' from dispersed sub-national communities towards the integrated entity of the nation-state. Add the eagerness of political leaders in the Third World to exert effective control over the population in the absence of established institutions, if possible by becoming the focus of popular solidarity, and the reasons for this emphasis on the notion of national integration become more apparent.