An Introduction to African Politics

297 Pages·2000·2.01 MB·English

by  Alex Thomson

An Introduction to African Politics
The second edition of An Introduction to African Politics is an ideal textbook for those
new to the study of this fascinating continent. It gets to the heart of the politics of
this part of the world. How is modern Africa still influenced by its colonial past?
How do strong ethnic identities on the continent affect government? Why has the
military been so influential? Why do African states have such difficulty managing
their economies? How does African democracy differ from democracy in the
West? These are the sort of questions tackled by the book. The result is a textbook
that identifies the essential features of African politics, allowing students to grasp
the recurring political patterns that have dominated this continent since
independence.
Features and benefits of An Introduction to African Politics:
• It is thematically organised, with individual chapters exploring issues such as
colonialism, ethnicity, nationalism, religion, social class, ideology, legitimacy,
authority, sovereignty and democracy.
(cid:127) It identifies key recurrent themes such as the competitive relationships between
the African state, its civil society and external interests.
(cid:127) It contains useful boxed case studies at the end of each chapter, including:
Kenya, Tanzania, Nigeria, Botswana, Côte d’Ivoire, Uganda, Somalia,
Ghana, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Algeria.
(cid:127) Each chapter concludes with key terms and definitions as well as questions,
advice on further reading and useful notes and references.
(cid:127) It includes a guide to African politics internet resources.
(cid:127) It is clearly and accessibly written by an experienced teacher of the subject.
Students seeking a comprehensive survey to help in their understanding of the
complex theories and events that characterise the politics of post-colonial Africa
will find this textbook essential reading.
Alex Thomson is a Principal Lecturer of Politics at Coventry University. His
books include Constructive Engagement: US Foreign Policy Towards South Africa, 1981–
1988 (Avebury, 1996) and Get Set for Politics (with Keith Faulks and Ken Phillips,
Edinburgh University Press, 2003).

An Introduction to
African Politics
Second edition
Alex Thomson
First published by Routledge 2000
Second edition first published 2004
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004.
© 2000, 2004 Alex Thomson
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN 0-203-40315-0 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-40969-8 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0–415–28261–6 (hbk)
ISBN 0–415–28262–4 (pbk)
Contents v
Contents
List of illustrations viii
Preface to the second edition ix
Acknowledgements xii
1 Introduction: state, civil society and external interests 1
Why study African politics? 1
The multiple political systems of Africa 3
The book’s thematic approach 3
State, civil society and external interests 4
2 History: Africa’s pre-colonial and colonial inheritance 7
The pre-colonial inheritance 8
The colonial inheritance 11
State and civil society 21
Case study: Kenya’s historical inheritance 23
3 Ideology: nationalism, socialism, populism and state
capitalism 31
Decolonisation in Africa 32
Nationalism 35
African nationalism 36
The differing ideological shades of African nationalism 37
State and civil society 44
Case study: socialism and ujamaa in Tanzania 50
4 Ethnicity and religion: ‘tribes’, gods and political identity 59
Definitions of ethnicity 60
The creation of ‘tribes’ 61
Ethnicity as a method of modern political mobilisation 64
Religion and African politics 67
vi Contents
State and civil society 71
Case study: ethnicity and the nation-state in Nigeria 73
5 Social class: the search for class politics in Africa 82
Marx on social class 83
The problems of exporting Marx to Africa 84
The African mode of production 85
A more flexible look at social class in Africa 87
Identifiable social groups within African society 88
The value of class analysis in explaining African politics 96
State and civil society 99
Case study: social class in Botswana 100
6 Legitimacy: neo-patrimonialism, personal rule and the
centralisation of the African state 107
Centralisation of the African state 108
Personal rule 115
The search for legitimacy 118
Clientelism 119
State and civil society 120
Case study: personal rule in Côte d’Ivoire 122
7 Coercion: military intervention in African politics 129
African military coups d’état 130
Why has Africa experienced so many military coups? 134
Problems facing military rulers 137
The outcomes of military rule in Africa 139
State and civil society 141
Case study: Uganda’s 1971 military coup 142
8 Sovereignty I: external influences on African politics 149
Inter-African international relations 151
Superpowers, the Cold War and Africa 152
The impact of the Cold War on African politics 158
Africa and the New World Order 159
State, civil society and external interests 164
Case study: Somalia’s international relations 166
9 Sovereignty II: neo-colonialism, structural adjustment
and Africa’s political economy 175
Burdens of the international economy 179
The African debt crisis 181
Contents vii
The era of structural adjustment 183
The consequences of structural adjustment 185
State, civil society and external interests 189
Case study: Ghana’s structural adjustment 192
10 Authority: the crises of accumulation, governance and
state collapse 200
The growing crisis of state legitimacy 201
The loss of state authority 207
The state’s own survival strategies 212
State and civil society 215
Case study: Zaire – Mobutu’s vampire state 217
11 Democracy: re-legitimising the African state? 228
Democracy 229
Explaining the emergence of multi-party democracy 232
The obstacles to democratic consolidation 236
State and civil society 244
Case study: the search for democracy in Algeria 246
12 Conclusions: state and civil society in post-colonial
Africa 255
Appendix: a guide to African politics resources on the internet 260
Notes 263
Index 276
viii Thinking Class
Illustrations
Tables
2.1 Chapter summary: potential problems created by the colonial
inheritance 22
3.1 Decolonisation in Africa 33
3.2 Chapter summary: Africa’s nationalist ideologies 48
4.1 Chapter summary: ethnicity and religion in African politics 72
5.1 Chapter summary: African social groups 98
6.1 Chapter summary: characteristics of a centralised state, personal
rule and clientelism 121
7.1 African military coups since independence 132
7.2 Chapter summary: a typology of military coups 141
8.1 Chapter summary: characteristics of Africa’s external relations
since independence 165
9.1 Comparative global economic and social indicators 176
9.2 African export concentration, 1982–6 180
9.3 Index of international trade, 1960–2000 180
9.4 Chapter summary: Africa’s recent political economy 191
10.1 Chapter summary: the crisis of political authority in Africa 216
11.1 Comparative African political systems, 1988 and 1999 230
11.2 Chapter summary: obstacles to democratic consolidation
in Africa 245
Maps
Africa today xi
2.1 Selected pre-colonial African states 9
2.2 Africa at the outbreak of the First World War 12
Preface to the second edition ix
Preface to the second edition
Fortunately for the sake of interest, but unfortunately for the textbook writer, the
world does not stand still politically. Africa proves to be no exception to this rule.
Since the first edition of this book was published at the turn of the millennium,
we have seen several significant developments, and non-developments on the
continent. The most depressing of the non-developments is the lack of state revival
in Somalia and (so far) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Sierra
Leone and Liberia have also continued their precarious existence, but most
depressing amongst the developments is perhaps the decline of the once relatively
powerful and representative states of Côte d’Ivoire and Zimbabwe. It would seem
that the re-legitimisation of the African state through multi-party democracy,
although potentially massively positive, is no guarantee against the conditions of
state collapse and the warlord state so well described in the African politics literature
of the late 1990s.
There have also been significant developments in the international relations
of the continent in recent times. The Organisation of African Unity has made
way for the African Union; the New Partnership for Africa’s Development
(NEPAD) marks the creation of an international organisation largely of African
design; Britain has devised a foreign policy to engage with the continent (at least,
before it prioritised Afghanistan and Iraq); while some progress has been made
in persuading Western countries to reduce levels of debt repayments demanded
from the poorest states. Again, all these initiatives have potential, but concrete
results, so far, are predictably conspicuous by their absence.
And then there is the issue of HIV and AIDS. Slowly, bit by bit, individuals in
the West are waking up to the catastrophe that has hit, and will continue to
debilitate, Africa. The statistics are quoted in this book, but I am not sure anyone
is ready for the future reality.
I have updated, where necessary, the second edition of this book to reflect the
developments mentioned above. I have also added new sections on religion and
African politics, made more use of Jeffrey Herbst’s work on non-hegemonic states
in the historical chapter, and updated the case studies accordingly. Alongside
other general revisions, new pedagogical features have also been added: namely
chapter summary tables and an appendix of internet sources for African politics.