The end of empire and the problem of neocolonialism - Africa's hope and misfortune - Nationalist leaders

6 important questions on The end of empire and the problem of neocolonialism - Africa's hope and misfortune - Nationalist leaders

What was the worldly opinion in 1945 about European presence?

  • While all the imperial powers were loath to let go of their holdings in 1945, during the following decade world opinion, and especially opinion in newly independent Asian and South Asian countries, turned sharply against the European presence.
  • Some Africans began to speak optimistically about the future of an independent continent that occupied one-fifth of the world's land mass, but nowhere has the postcolonial experience been more troubled; nowhere has the practice of democracy and constitutional government been more fragile.

How many African countries were independent by 1980?

During the late 1950s and 1960s, over 30 new nation-states were created out of former European holdings on the continent, and by the late 1980s the number had increased to 51 and no African state remained under the control of a foreign power.

What did the Western-educated leaders of Africa commit to?

The Western-educated leaders of these new countries were committed territorial nationalists; they believed that the arbitrary boundaries of colonial states erected by Europeans, with all of their ethnic, religious, and linguistic differences, could be molded into nations where primary allegiance was to a larger territorial entity.
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What challenges were there for African leaders?

The task of bridging differences and transcending local allegiances to forge a strong sense of national self-consciousness would require unsurpassed political and fiscal management skills, neither of which had been encouraged by imperialists during the colonial era.

What differences were there between Indian and African leaders?

  • Whereas India's Western-educated elite had secured access to self-government at the local and provincial levels long before national independence was won, African leaders had been afforded few such opportunities.
  • And whereas India's nationalists could at least claim a certain level of cultural cohesiveness on the basis of two predominantly religious traditions, Africa's aspirant leaders could make no such claims.

What is wrong about Africa's economic infrastructure?

Africa's economic infrastructure was rudimentary at best, focused on export over domestic needs, and tied inexorably to the vicissitudes of Western capitalist markets.

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