02.03.

2015
History Characteristics
-

Continuity lines between pre-colonial period to the modern

age
European influence on African states but only for 70-80 years
to max. 300 years, but life started 2-3 mil. years ago. (small
timeframe of colonial influence)

Pre-colonial Africa
- Hard to generalize, diverse as the continent itself
- 2 types of political organization stateless societies
- States
Max Webbers definition of the States
-

The experience of a monopoly on legitimate violence on a

specific territory
a political institution = a specific set of rules which prescribes
expectations
an idea started by people, people interact with each other
based on those rules

Montevideo Convention
The entity of a state if it possesses:
A permanent population
Territory defined
Government
Relations with other states
State= a means of rule over a defined, sovereign territory
For a State to exist there has to be a clearly defined shared set of
ideas
State a concept as meant in only a specific context
The meaning not in the object itself but in the context its
issued Ex: troll

Alex Thompson
-

African States = non-hegemonic states

Pre-colonial African States were not designed to become all
powerful political entities, different to what we call all states:

lacking borders, overlapping authorities (different degrees of

allegiance to defend forms of power elders/kings)
Interaction between these entities
No scarcity of territory (no centralization needed like in
Europe)
Wars for loot: slaves, cattle, gold, robbing not that brutal

Stateless Societies
-

in Central and South Africa (low density of population, lack of

economic surplus)
dont need a state in order to have rules, orders, social
interaction
developed hierarchical social, political institutions
transformed in time into states
economic surplus lead to trade (Ghana, Mali: sub-Saharan
trade routes)
states appeared due to military progress the Zulu people
(and the progress of the Zulu warriors)
states appeared due to progress in metal working/mining
(Benin, Ashanti)

Inheritance of the pre-colonial period lead to non-hegemony (lack of

centralization characteristic to Europe, overlapping communities like
German cities in the 1500s)
Second pre-colonial characteristic Kinship/Lineage remains a
characteristic of ancestors worship
Colonial inheritance Africa= a direct result of colonization
1415 Sinta (first permanent European settlement)
1625 The Dutch established the colony of Cape Town
-

Trading outposts of the coast of Africa at the Atlantic Ocean

goods: ivory, gold, slaves

During the Scramble for Africa (period 19th early 20th century)
the European powers divided the territory:
French (N, W, C)
British (E, W, C, S)
Spanish (Morocco, Sahara, Guinea and also the Canaries)
Portugal - Azores Islandes, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde,
Guine-Bissau
Italy Libya, Eritrea, Somalia

Dutch Cape Town colony, until it was bought by the British in

1918 after the Napoleon wars, Orange, Transvaal, Boer (from
farmers to diamond miners in 1815 after the Napoleon Wars)
1889-1903 Great Britain occupies the states of Orange and
Transvaal and forms the South Africa
Belgium - (Congo)
-

Private territory of the king Leopold of Belgium, bought back

by the country.

Germany - has colonies in German West Africa Namibia, German

East Africa, Cameron, Togoland, lost them after the WW1
Consequences of the colonial inheritance
-

The modern state period the division of colonies, imposed

during the decolonization
Arbitrary boundaries ignore social, political and economic
factors. Except Swaziland, Lesotho, Rwanda Burundi
Economic inheritance
Weak political institutions
Formation of state elites inherited by the state
Re-enforced the non-hegemonic state
Weak link state-civil society

Crawford Young describes the African colonial state as alien to its

core
- Irredentism: Somalia, Ethiopia
- Internal problems, Tanzania 200 ethnic groups
- No colonial legitimacy based on coercion
9.03.2015
Orientalism- Orient Oriental
1. Misrepresentation
-rapirea din serai occidental vision of the orient
-Re-representation of the Orient
- The representation is not the person itself
Said
- Any form of knowledge is an act of power
- Doubled by the economic and military power (and missionary)
it strengthens the legitimate of the act of power

Schliemann
- German business man, Isarlk (the ruins of Troy)
- 1920s the arab lover
Pamuk
Alternative representation
- no representation is objective
- winners wright the history
- with the exception of Spartacus (the example of the loser,
symbol of the under-dog fight)
Great Britain, France loses control over the Orient after the Cold War
but America takes the lead. An expert in Middle East knows the
language but they are not immersed in the culture, they have a
profound political specialization.
2. Generalization/ Supra-simplification
Islam
-

a system of thought based on auto-sufficiency

neo-liberal system
terrorist vs. freedom fighter
unitary culture vs. diversity, monolithic
Does not have multiple forms of practice
Sunnis /Shiites issue regarding the 4th air after the death of
the prophet
Druze :Lebanon, Syria, Israel

Mahmoud Dabbas: the president of the Palestinian Authority

(University of Moscow: the University of Friendship between People)
-

The trust in URSS, the communist countries with regard to the

former colonies from the west.

Arabs Arab numbers, imperia and cultures

The 11th century the renaissance of Cordoba (public libraries), the
habit of daily cleansing process as part of prayer
The African- represented as a new man = a slave
African cultures: few statal structures (the forming of a state is a
characteristic of civilization)
Organization may exist also in the absence of statal coercion
Non-statal = primitive, from the European perspective
Misrepresentation
- Due to the lack of statal culture
- Because the state is not capable of external representation

16.03.2015
Nationalism
- Desire that the nation should be housed in its own state
- European ideology
- Connected to liberalism (ex: the national-liberal party)
Liberals
- agree that people are capable of passion/violence
- human nature is not constant, people can be educated->
believe in progress
- all human beings are moral we know the difference between
good and bad
- revolutionary ideology
Conservatives
- do not consider the individual the central focus point but
the community (individuals cannot exist outside the
community)
- do not believe in progress or positive action of human
nature
Hogs:
- civil war as the result of the individual expressing their
true nature
The link between Nationalism and liberals
- medieval society was hierarchical
- university autonomy is a medieval heritage
- ex: structural groups, divided by territory, diverse
communities, internal customs, guilds
New concept the Nation (replacing the old order of the nobles)
Benedict Anderson imagined communities
The modern state arrived in Africa, before any nation considered it
as its own.
Nations exist apriori.
African nationalism appeared in the struggle against colonialism.
- Did not seek to make a new state

Institutionally, they tried to capture the existing state

In order for the African to capture the existing state,
social groups replaced the colonial administration

Romanian nationalism
- Elite educated abroad that tried to build institutions
(church, educational system, unified the currency )
African nationalism put the emphasis on national unity (to
transgress ethnic, racial, religious boundaries). Ex; Malawi
Nationalism- seen as modernization which requires national unity
Samora Machel - for the nation to live, the tribe must die
African states: pluralist competition was sacrificed, mostly 1 party
Marxism
-

Materialist ideology
Everything that exists in society is a result of producing
it
PRODUCTION RELATIONS
PR + MP (means of production)

STRUCTURE

SUPRASTRUCTURE
Generates: state, art, religion, ethics = consequence of production
REVOLUTION
NEW SUPRA-STRUCTURE
PR + MP
The Perspective on the world is
o Materialist: the mater counts
o Idealist: ideas count (everything was first an idea)

The manner how things are produced leads to the

creation of classes -> history = the fight of classes
Idea

Confruntation
synthesis

Thesis

leads to

Anti-thesis
Aristotel
Hegel

Marx argued that the process does not occur for ideas but within the
means of production.
Employer- Employee
=
class relation
Bourgeois- Proletarian

economic relation but also a

The state exists to strengthen the economic structure

All African states were
- Nationalist after decolonization
- Anti- imperialist
But each followed their path towards the main objectives
- National unity
- Economic development
interconnected
Tanzania
- Tanganyika (26 April 1964)
- Zanzibar Land (semi-autonomous part of Tanzania)
African socialism
- Emphasis on adapting socialism to the different
conditions of African states
- International context: the Cold War
- Few African leaders considered liberalism as capable of
fighting poverty
- Political amulet by the end of the 1960s
- Emphasized traditional values
- The Golden age- equality before the Europeans came
o Traditional values of African culture: equality,
cooperation
o Modern means of production

o Strange state institutions

Believed could skip capitalism (industrialization)
Could skip the proletariat soviet like dictatorship
Self-reliant, non-capitalist path toward socialism
The state was the engine of development
The state controlled the production and distribution of
goods, no free market

After 1960s
- African socialist government was transformed to
dictatorship after military coup dtat
- Inability of regimes to mobilize peasants (cooperatives)
- The nature of world economy
- Internal social division
1970s
-

Marien Ngouabi, leader of Congo Brazzaville

Scientific socialist regimes: Angola, Mozambique
The star appears on their flags, overlapping of symbols
Similar to Maos China: the peasants are the
revolutionary factor not the proletariat (the population
consisted of majority peasants)

5.05.2015
B. Anderson Nation is in in communities
Ethnicity Tribalism
Tribe instrument of social construction
Africa
-

Interlocking, overlapping and multiple identities

Akan tribe
-

Ghana
Maintained by the British administration
Identified as 4 different communities
The administrative imperative demanded tribes

Paradox: Africans themselves, accepted the idea of a larger

tribe for political and administrative reasons
-

Mostly in English and Belgian colonies

Fulbe Tribe (one of the largest ethnolinguistic
groups in Africa, approx. 40 million people in total. They
are one of the most widely dispersed and culturally
diverse of the peoples of Africa; bound together by the
common language of Fulfulde)
Privileges that every tribe has

safety in numbers - the bigger the tribe, the greater is

its importance for the colonizers
Africans invent tribes
Manipulate history to give the tribe an honorable past

A. Thomson
While the colonial authorities were busy assigning Africans to
tribes, the Africans were busy building tribes to belong to
-

Wanted to be members of tribes in order to have perks

in the new colonial world (it was in their interest)
Tribes managed to help both states and civil society
Especially in single-party African states
Even the most repressive state had to accept the
regional power
Each regime made tacit concessions
Political acts were acts of balancing different ethnic
groups and had to mediate within the civil society

Donald Rothchild
- hegemonic exchange
- The choices does not change the relation between the
center and religious groups
- Skill of balancing each ethnic group within the state

Religion
-

Little to no role in government deliberation process

Tenant of the private sphere
The EU has enforced a strict differentiation between
public and private sphere
Secular state with division between public life and
private life
20% of the worlds Muslim population live in Africa
The number of Muslims and Christians are rising

Animism
-

is diverse from village to village

is not institutionalized
an umbrella for many religions
passing rituals
not a religion but a social etiquette for different
practices

Van Jenner
- in life, the human being passes through many stages,
the passing is in all religions, marked with a passing
ritual

sacralised in different ways,

for ex: Baptism, military service- formal modern ritual,
the coming of age- informal ritual
when the ontological status of a person changes: from
girl to women, through marriage

In the EU the religion is separated from the state, atheism is

predominant
Desmond Tutu
- anti-apartheid militant
- militants have acted through the church because it
could not be contested
- religion was used as a substitute
Differences in the states with a Muslim majority population
- Islam does not make differences between the public
space and the private
- the issue of intercession, intervention from another to
the divinity
- syncretic practices (ex: Islamic goddesses from
Bangladesh)
- the disadvantage of Islam was due to the lack of
differences between the private and the public
- the majority of Islamic countries are secular
1958 Mauritania
1992- Algeria (Front Islamique)
1992- Boko Haram
1999- N Nigeria (Sari law)
Algis Anwar El Sadat (third President of Egypt) was assassinated
because Egypt did not close a peace treaty with Israel.
11.05.2015
-

no/little industrialization
no capitalist mode of production but many inter-relating
modes of production
unequal spread of capitalism in Africa
Morocco, N African countries could be considered slave
societies
Feudal society: serfs producing for a landlord (ex:
Ethiopia, had a noble/landlord clan)
In S Africa land was commonly held
Classes can be distinguished

Peasants (Marxist)
- Subsidence through agriculture
- Connected to social rural community

Wolfe
A peasant produces agricultural goods for the following
reasons: subsidence, paying thife (to the owners) and for
social interactions (ceremony)
- In comparison, the farmer produces for: small scale
subsidence farming
- Small capitalist, thrifting for goods they cannot produce
- Little/ no political power
- Due to isolation/ tradition they are not revolutionary
engaged (exception Zimbabwe)
- Common reaction: disengage from the market economy
- cash crops grown with the purpose of being sold
=>Taxation
- Peasants are trapped between pre-capitalists and
capitalist => poorly paid
A peasantariat
Proletariat
- Few, for example miners in Zambia, railway workers
- Enjoy a relative security of employment and higher
wages (some have unions)
- an aristocracy of labor, ex: football players
- The proletariat is better off than the peasants in contrast
with the Marxist view
- lump proletariat: beggars, thieves, prostitutes
The informal sectors entrepreneurs drug dealers
Commercial bourgeoisie not necessarily of African origin
Bureaucratic bourgeoisie
- is more important, should not have possessions as civil
servants
- Their power is not the power of owning a means of production
but by controlling them
R. Skalan
S. Orlowski
Not the means of production but the means of consumption, of
compulsion.
The government can limit the consumption by taxation
-

The bourgeoisie of the civil servant (ministers, party officials,

managers of public firms)
The origin lies in colonization
Class perpetuates by kindship and by assuring the same
competitive advantage (ex: the French, English)
Traditional leaders (ex: Nelson Mandela member of the
Transkei royalty)

The international bourgeoisie

- Third World countries to copy institutes of the 1st world
Modernization theory- in order to bridge the gap
R. Prebisch
3rd World countries dont develop because within the capitalist
countries a dependency remains => in order to develop, they need
to industrialize
compradors
- licensed natives from Hong Kong, Macao
- Acted as intermediators between the W and E
Commercial bourgeoisie
- More as an instrument of the developed countries
- Irrespective of territorial divisions
- Local elites have great authority (ex: Somalia)
Reductionist perspective: doesnt take into consideration conflicts
between classes.

25.05.2015
Revolution/ Coup dtat/Putsch
1952-1990 : 71 revolutions
NCOs
- Sub officers, under qualified military (see Huntington thesis)
- Arrested the government
- Took over the radio
- Installed a military government

Nigeria, Burkina Faso multiple revolutions

-

At the same time, some countries never experience this form

of transition
N: Morocco, Mauritania
S: Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa, Lesotho

1. The intervention of military force in politics why so many

coups in Africa?
The result may differ also; different types of regimes may lead to
democracy or non-democratic forms.
Three types of coups
- Veto
- Guardian
- Breakthrough
Guardian coup
- Official explanation: try to save the country from civilian missmanagement
- Ex: Nigeria
Veto
-

coup:
Reaction to opposition to a specific policy
Often corporate interest regarding resources
Frequent in Central and South America
In 1992, Algeria (due to the Islamic opposition possibility of
winning the elections)

Breakthrough coup:
- Enacted to transform the political regime/ the society
- Sets up revolutionary institutions
- monarchies and became republics:
1952- Egypt
1974- Ethiopia

Nasser
- Had a tough stance against Israel
- An example for other African countries (also from Iran, Yemen)
- For 6 years, Egypt was ruled by men in the military
Burkina Faso (Upper Volta before 1970)
- Lower rank military overthrew the previous government
Huntington

States lacking institutionalized political culture (different

interests are represented, individuals participate indirectly in
taking decisions)
Example: the Egyptian monarchy
A divided society (ethnic, classes, religion) was a conducive
environment for military coups

Ethiopia
- The men led by Mengistu took the power with assistance from
Cuba
Janowitz
- Argued the problem was not the environment by taking as
example other African countries
- The military is built over an ethos of professionalism,
cohesion, discipline, patriotism, which comes in conflict with
the civilian governments corruption
Cases of military coups done for personal reasons:
Uganda Idi Amin Dada
CAR J. B. Bokassa
A functional explanation: the military is responsible for these coups
simply because they can. Does not account for the incidence of
coups in some states and the lack thereof in others.
Clapham
- The army is just another faction (ex: tribe or social groups)
- The military= armed wing of the bureaucratic bourgeoisie
1994, Gambia
- The army was displaced as a peacekeeping force in Liberia
( brutal revolutions, cases of cannibalism)
- The troops did not have food, were commanded by Nigerian
officers
- The army overthrew the long lasting multi-party government
as its resources were threatened
1968, Mali
- The president tried to set-up a parallel military force
- The army intervened because its authority was threatened
Coups were instigated by the former colonial powers (Britain, France
and covert CIA) - foreign intervention.
2. What other problems military rule is faced with?
-

different reaction to the coups

people didnt object or

the possibility of a counter- coup (the leaders might be seen

as also inefficient and corrupt)
lack of government or administrative training (they use the
same bureaucratic apparatus-> a hybrid government)
ensuring legitimacy to prevent civil war, they appeal to the
same instrument as before (power relations remain) using the
same neo-patrimonial networks
delivering promises - most regimes are inefficient in
setting up the society they promised

The future how long does the military regime last till they
transform the regime? They do not make plans or draft
constitutions.
3. What are the outcomes of the military coups?
- All have resulted in increased military spending
- Ex: Ghana 22% increase in military spending with 28%
decrease in rural assistance
a) By guardian coup
1. Intermediate, medium term military rule
1969, 1979 Ghana
1979, 1999 Nigeria
o The military does not retreat from politics but acts as a
political referee
o The military drafts the constitution, which asserts the
military right to intervene
2. Long term rule
o Outcome is a civilian-military hybrid government
b) By veto coup
o Personal rule or take on a guardian position
c) Breakthrough coup
o Set up single party state
o Unable to deliver the promises
o Also end up in personal rule or dictatorships

02.06.2015
Sovereignty and Anarchy are faces of the same coin. Anarchy is the
lack of authority. Sovereignty is based on the non-interference
principle in domestic matters; it is a European concept and a result

of the Westphalia Treaties and is enshrined in the UN Charta. There

is no clear delimitation in the interaction of state (usually includes a
breach of sovereignty).
EU Agreements limit sovereignty. For example, external influences in
African States are breaches in sovereignty.
The nature of inter-African international/regional relations
African international institutions have an international background
based on pan-African solidarity and ideals after the 1960s.
OAU
-

1963, oldest organization supposed to gain a confederate

character
Based on political rhetoric and not action, the principle of nonintervention
Lack of recourses
Ineffective, no provisions for intervention
Replaced by the African Union in 2002
The Charta: intervention is possible under great circumstances
Peer review of maintaining democratic standards

NEPAD
-

New partnership for African development

Bring African state to improve economic performance
Objective = good governance
Attracted foreign aid, FDI investments
Lacks transparency, doesnt engage civil society
Top down process

Failed to act in Darfur, the Zimbabwe crisis

At regional level: South African Development Community
Approximately all states south of Zaire
In 1994 South Africa was a member
Purpose to counter apartheid
1992 broaden international organizations
Focuses on economic cooperation and integration
Customs unions in the South

AU

ECOWAS = Economic Community of West African States

-

Purpose: economic cooperation

After the cold war focused on political cooperation and

security
Took up peace keeping missions in Liberia, Sierra Leone

Few states versus states conflicts, Examples:

1979: Uganda Tanzania
Ethiopia Eritrea
Angola Civil War:
-

MPLA (Marxist inspired party) Cuban direct intervention

USSR

UNITA supported by Zaire (Congo), South Africa and the US

The second Congo War

-

At the end of the 90s

5 million casualties
Involved all neighboring states

The Cold War Period

-

An ideological military confrontations between two

superpowers
Africa did not have a strategic output
Zero Sum Game what one side won the other side lost
Because of the Cold War logic, by competing for new allies,
the African countries were important
Propaganda so not to lose allies
For example: Egypt was a URSS client till the 70s after allied
the US (after Israel, Egypt receives the most money for the
army)

USSR
-

Portrayed itself as an ally, it considered itself as a recent state

(the monarchic history was removed)
Anti-imperialistic discourse
Provided financial aid to Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Ethiopia, Angola,
Mozambique
Pragmatic politics 1950-1960
Access to the military facilities on the African continent
Egypt nationalizes the Suez Canal to be able to finance the
construction of a dam on the Nile, to be built by the USSR

The Cold War

-

Hot in the 3rd world countries

War by proxy
Egypt and Syria vs. Israel

Cuba
-

The most important state in the socialist camp

Anti-imperialist solidarity
Sent specialist to the African countries, and development and
trade programmes

China
-

Close to the USSR until the conflict between the 2 started

The Chinese policy in African countries is anti-Soviet
Pragmatic implication, exterior commerce for constructing
local infrastructure

The paradox of the conflict represents the fear of USA and USSR to
be attracted in a conflict by the allies
- Containment policy, limited strategic importance for the USA
(ambivalent)
- USA closed its eyes on the totalitarian regimes and the human
rights issues (Zaire and South Africa)
- Doesnt pressure the apartheid during the conflict. For
example American athletes in Africa are given the title of
honorary white
Great Britain
- Discrete policy during the Cold War
- Entered commercial agreements
- In 1964 it supports Kenya, Zimbabwe and Tanganyika
France
-

The most consistent involvement in the Cold War

de Gaulle supported the project of the African community
He extended its influence on territories with different colonial
background

C. Clapham

- The triad: people- money- force = the success of France

France continues its mission civilisatrice in the post-colonial period
- Direct bonds between African leaders, with high functions in
the French administration
- Financially, it offered the most foreign aid
- The French treasury guaranteed the coin of the African
Economic Community
- Military cooperation agreements with former colonies
- During the cold War 13000 French soldiers were stationed
- Numerous political interventions
Scandinavian countries
-

The second founder of African states

Arab states
-

Supported infrastructure and religion

Opportunities: loans with low interests (acquiring weapons
worth 4,5 million), technic aid and infrastructure
Risks: getting attracted into a war. For example: Mobutu (Zair
dictator) was an expert of the game

After the end of the Cold War

- Decreasing intensity and the end of the proxy war
- Political regimes dependent of the foreign aid disappear
- The White regime= the devil you know, racial segregation is
no longer supported/ overseen
Somalia: Black Hawk Down, 1994
- Until present day, no American soldier has intervened in Africa
(with the exception: the bombing of a factory as a response to
the bombing of an embassy and the presence in the Indian
Ocean for protection against pirates)
The Rwanda Genocide
- No intervention from the world powers
- Transformation of the international system, compromises of
the cold war are no longer possible
Kenya
- Daniel Arap Moi was removed from office without his external
support
France
- Does not support the CFA
- Continues to intervene military: The Ivory Coast, 2002; Mali
2013-2014

Great Britain
- Much more active, especially during the mandate of Tony
Blair
- Supports good governance and reducing poverty
- Raises the issue of the African in the G8 meeting
- Policy of erasing debts (110 million dollars dismissed in 2009)
- For developing countries: 1997 3 million dollars; 2005-2006
1 billion dollars
- Conditions: the state should adopt the policy of fiscal
responsibility and aim to reduce poverty
China
- Most involved after the Cold War (1988-2008)
- The value of commercial trades increased 10 times
- The important economic partner of Africa
- It buys natural resources: wood and especially oil
- Offers loans without conditions - amoral neo-colonial policy
- Massive program of infrastructure (Chinese companies import
both raw materials and the work force)
- Little evidence that it supports local economy
- In Nigeria and South Africa, they suppressed the local textile
industry (but imposed export quota)
- Cheap loans to Zimbabwe

Africas problems remain contestant

40% of Africans are analphabets
Burundi, Angola, Congo life expectancy is under 40 years
Burundi 40% of its adult population has AIDS
The neo-liberal and left wing interpretation affirms Africas
problems are the result of the global economic structure
The impact of intervention Africans have entered
colonialism with a shovel and emerged from it with the same
shovel
Mono-industrial economies, lack of know-how, no education
Ghana and the Ivory Coast cocoa exporters but are buying
foreign industrial products which reduces the negotiation
power
1983, Sucden bought the whole production

At the end of the Cold War, the external debt is enormous.

Causes:
- Decline of loan benefits.
- 73-79 Opec raised the oil prices
- Raise in loan interest rates

Conditions imposed: reducing poverty, good governance and

transition towards democracy
Forced to privatize lead to unemployment
Crash of the clientele network which enforced inequality
structures
Unclear efficiency of foreign aid.