At independence, post-independence African states were and continue to be rooted in the political, social and economic conditions experienced under colonialism. On coming to power at independence, African elites inherited a state system established by the former colonial rulers. This system lacked legitimacy, capacity and resources. It was geared towards law enforcement and control of ‘native’ populations, and secondarily if at all to their welfare. Mechanisms of accountability did not exist and civil society was weak. Economies had been geared towards serving the needs of the colonizer rather than the needs of the colonized. It was in this context that the new elites use the state and its resources to establish their political authority.
As a consequence, African states are usually characterized as having:
a) A strong executive to the detriment of the judiciary, parliament and civil society (least unionized) – often with power concentrated in the hands of a president;
b) An weak and often corrupt civil service – with civil servants using proximity to state resources for self aggrandizement and material advancement; and
c) A marginalized civil society - very few formal associations, even where formal associations exist (such as trade unions, religious groups, traditional leaders, business associations, even political parties), they are either marginalized from the decision-making process or are co-opted by government into patron-client relations
The post-independence African states inherited the colonial boundaries that did not respect the traditional ethnic, linguistic or religious divisions that existed in pre-colonial times, and imposed artificial "nation-states" on rival ethnic groups which did not share a fundamentally distinct or internally homogenous culture. The heterogenous and multi-tribal character of African societies reflects the circumstances of Africa's colonization and partitioning that were done without regard to either the interests or the natural divisions and institutions of its peoples. The administrative and political infrastructure devised by the colonial administrators so as to effectively and economically govern the colonies was feudal, both in its basic principles and organization. The colonial state inherited by the new African leaders at independent was essentially no more than an administrative convenience and a legal fiction. The result was that the newly independent African nation-states suffer from latent ethnic conflict. In eliminating these alternative sites of political power, post-independence African states continue to rely, as colonial ones had done, on coercion that at times creates more civil conflicts.
As a consequence, African states are usually characterized as having:
a) A strong executive to the detriment of the judiciary, parliament and civil society (least unionized) – often with power concentrated in the hands of a president;
b) An weak and often corrupt civil service – with civil servants using proximity to state resources for self aggrandizement and material advancement; and
c) A marginalized civil society - very few formal associations, even where formal associations exist (such as trade unions, religious groups, traditional leaders, business associations, even political parties), they are either marginalized from the decision-making process or are co-opted by government into patron-client relations
The post-independence African states inherited the colonial boundaries that did not respect the traditional ethnic, linguistic or religious divisions that existed in pre-colonial times, and imposed artificial "nation-states" on rival ethnic groups which did not share a fundamentally distinct or internally homogenous culture. The heterogenous and multi-tribal character of African societies reflects the circumstances of Africa's colonization and partitioning that were done without regard to either the interests or the natural divisions and institutions of its peoples. The administrative and political infrastructure devised by the colonial administrators so as to effectively and economically govern the colonies was feudal, both in its basic principles and organization. The colonial state inherited by the new African leaders at independent was essentially no more than an administrative convenience and a legal fiction. The result was that the newly independent African nation-states suffer from latent ethnic conflict. In eliminating these alternative sites of political power, post-independence African states continue to rely, as colonial ones had done, on coercion that at times creates more civil conflicts.
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