THE ROOTS OF INSTABILITY IN AFRICA

In Africa, several nations gained freedom only after the war or any other aggressive opposition to colonial control. The battle of liberation in Angola lasted from 1961 to 1974. This and related conflicts in Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau stopped only after a military intervention in Portugal. Subsequently, a civil war started in Angola, which continued until 2002, with forces participating in this civil war sponsored by non-Eastern or Western bloc countries. The battle of liberation in Algeria continued from 1954 to 1962. This war ended France’s vision of converting its once enormous imperial power into too many overseas departments. Other tensions during the Cold War era involved the repression of opponents by numerous non-democratic governments and racial conflicts. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the number of ongoing wars dropped. The number slipped from a high of 49 to 24. Since then, the amount of ongoing conflicts has fluctuated in the twenties. Moreover, the dominant forms of fighting also changed to wars due to racial and religious disparities.

In post-colonial Africa, several rulers depended on so-called ‘divide-and-rule’ politics to remain in power. The idea of “divide-and-rule” defines a tactic for rulers to retain control by manipulating cooperation problems between possible rivals. Rulers may split up rival clusters of influence by making unequal offers/sanctions or only by disrupting contact networks between potential competitors. However, the implications of this ‘divide-and-rule’ approach as a tactic for democratic survival are also opaque and not yet thoroughly studied analytically. Although some researchers have shown that patronage policies usually contribute to improved government stability, others point to this kind of law’s unstable features and claim that these systems are incredibly vulnerable to a violent confrontation.

The roots of current African democratic structures can be traced back to colonial rule. The imperial powers also split Africa into modern states and independent lands, respectively. Pre-colonial Africa had many ‘stateless’ cultures, and even when forms appeared. They were less formally established than their western equivalents. Consequently, the colonization era (mostly from the Berlin Conference of 1884/1885 to the 1960s) had a remarkable influence on the continent. It is the institutional base of contemporary African states. There are three main implications of colonial rule that have influenced the formation of political structures in African countries:

1. The inconsistencies between conventional and colonial institutions.
2. The emergence of non-hegemonic states.
3. The accelerated decolonization phase created unstable democratic regimes.

Elias Papaioanou, stelos M. (2010). Divid ruel. https://voxeu.org/article/divide-and-rule-or-rule-divided-under-development-africa

R.Jusu, A. (2012). Probles in Sub-Saharan African Economc development. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 130(2), 556.