黑料社区

A new calendar year ushers in the usual array of tropes on Africa. They include why the continent is failing, what it should be doing better and why it has so much resilience in dealing with its own frailty. Overwhelmingly, Western institutions (NGOs, credit rating agencies, etc.) repeat tired mantras of the international 铿乶ancial institutions, ignoring the insights of African scholar activists and the historical backdrop to the continent鈥檚 contemporary crises. Neglect of such analysis leads to the failure to understand why and how different African countries are in the mess that they are and why the mess has structural continuities and conjunctural discontinuities. The antidote to Western-centric analysis is the superb collection of essays in a special issue of Africa Development, a journal of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), which emerged from the Post-Colonialisms Today project. The range and insight of the collection is difficult to capture in a short review, but there are two continuous themes among contributors: the importance of revisiting the historical past and the signi铿乧ance of sovereignty, or the absence of it.

The collection challenges 鈥渢he continued hegemony of neoliberalism in policymaking in Africa鈥� (Hormeku-Ajei et al. , 4). The introduction notes the amnesia about how early post-independence leaders tried to secure the 鈥渘ewly-won freedom of their countries through policies that were designed 鈥� to promote autonomous development processes anchored on the demands and needs of a home market鈥� (1). Nyerere, for example, rebuked the IFIs when they accused him of failure, noting that at independence 85% of Tanzania was illiterate and they had just two trained engineers and 12 medical doctors 鈥� after 43 years of British colonial rule. Under Nyerere, Tanzania ensured 91% literacy, that all children were in school and that per capita income grew dramatically. After reluctantly accepting IFI diktats, key social and economic indices plummeted. In discrediting the first 20 years of autonomous and autochthonous African post-independence development policy and strategy, the IFIs provided a narrative to justify what became the ruinous years of structural adjustment. While the heart of the neoliberal project is to discredit African strategy and practice, this collection highlights that the idea of African post-independence failure was manufactured and 鈥渄eliberately misleading鈥� (2).

The 铿乺st 20 years of post-independence Africa had promise and were in铿倁ential in trying to reverse the colonial inheritance: African, mostly radical, leaders were often successful, even if for a brief period of time, in addressing political and economic fragmentation (especially reliance on primary commodity exports). The authors of this collection explore how several African leaders recognised their country鈥檚 subordinate position in the global system and understood the importance of assembling African agency to address and change that relationship. A unifying theme in the collection is that 鈥淸d]ecolonisation across Africa brought about historical changes; it was a moment of solidarity, optimism, and radical rethinking of political and economic systems鈥� (Salem , 160). Contemporary rearticulation of colonial relationships has reproduced the problem of earlier independence leaders, who sought to reduce dependence upon former colonial powers by promoting nation building, industrialisation, economic and agricultural diversi铿乧ation, pan-Africanism, and the development of a new economic order. 

Jimi Adesina examines the pan-African agenda, reviewing variations and similarities of Senghor, Nyerere, and Nkrumah in their approaches to socialism, pan-African unity, nationhood, economic development, epistemology and democracy. In their different ways, the three African leaders each tried to develop, coordinate, and mobilise the full range of domestic resources to reduce dependence on external interests and maintain sovereignty. Adesina emphasizes the crucial Nyerere leitmotif 鈥渦nity鈥� (49) and obstacles to it, including the variable capacity across the continent to challenge imperialism. He highlights the importance of not reifying African leaders, the 鈥渄iversity of postcolonial imaginations鈥� (52), and that, quoting Nyerere, 鈥渢he sin of despair would be the most unforgivable鈥� (54). But so too would be an optimism that is not grounded in analysis of existing radical social forces and the power of imperialism. Unless imperialism is understood and challenged, new agendas for pan-Africanism, sovereign national projects, and policy autonomy will wither on the proverbial vine.

Kareem Megahed and Omar Ghannam review Nasser鈥檚 attempt to industrialise Egypt鈥檚 economy as a way of challenging imperial interests. They argue that, while new incumbents of the Nasserist state often used words like 鈥榮ocialism鈥� and 鈥榩lanning鈥�, they 鈥渄id not actually, as is commonly believed, implement a central planning nor a socialist approach鈥� (67). Nasser鈥檚 land reform and new tenancy laws transformed large sections of rural Egypt while leaving the property, rights, power, and influence of old feudal elites intact. Megahed and Ghannam provide a useful re铿俥ction on the external and internal limitations of Nasser鈥檚 postcolonial project, noting the inherited restricted industrial base and the need for increased investment. Their biggest critique is that Nasser 鈥渁ttempted to give workers a measure of economic freedom and progress without giving them the political means to protect these very gains鈥� (89). One of the reasons why the project fell apart, despite gains in productivity and improvement in the well-being of the poor, 鈥渨as the lagging of democratic workers鈥� representation, which allowed the project to be hijacked鈥� by imperial powers (92). 

Akua Britwum draws attention to the under-researched importance of agricultural transformation in challenging uneven incorporation into global capitalism and plotting a strategy for sovereignty. She explores this topic through the cases of Ghana and Tanzania, reminding readers of the key strategic potential of the state in production, distribution and employment creation. Britwum draws important connections to contemporary African development constraints, noting how the absence of sovereignty continues and is evident in the 鈥渇ailure to fully de-link national economies from the global capitalist political economy that had positioned African countries as primary producers鈥� (128). This means that dependence on 鈥渆arnings from cash crop exports to 铿乶ance development expenditure鈥� (128) remains, limiting any in铿倁ence the state might be able to exert over productive resources. Britwum is scathing about the failure of independence to reduce patriarchy and the development plans鈥� failure to recognise that gendered strati铿乧ation is 鈥渋nimical to national development鈥� (133). However, she makes clear that there are positive lessons for development planning from the Ghanaian and Tanzanian experiences, such as 鈥渢heir sturdy ideological focus that led them to prioritise domestic needs鈥�; the state鈥檚 role as a 鈥減rincipal economic actor鈥�; and their focus on agriculture (130). Nkrumah and Nyerere鈥檚 imperatives of African socialism provided an important, although not long lasting, 鈥渋deological grounding in the imperative for African socialism鈥� (131).

Cha铿乲 Ben Rouine reminds us of before neoliberalism, when countries鈥� central banks helped mobilise resources to facilitate post-independence agrarian reforms and industrial strategy. Ben Rouine highlights the historical success of Tunisia鈥檚 central bank in mobilising, controlling, and channeling credit to the needs of the national economy. He notes how the 1960s was a period when the state tried to develop a vision of decolonisation and self-centred development, though it ultimately floundered due to 鈥渢rust in external 铿乶ancial support, an overly centralised bureaucracy鈥� that did not understand the speci铿乧ity of Tunisian agriculture, and 鈥渁 vision of development too focused on the West鈥� (156). Tunisia鈥檚 limited but important attempt at greater autonomy from the world capitalist system ended after structural adjustment began in 1986 and neoliberalism destroyed central bank independence.

The volume is tied together by Sara Salem鈥檚 contribution on radical regionalism, feminism, sovereignty and the pan-African project. She argues that sovereignty in the immediate post-independence period was seen as a regional, pan-African, internationalist project of decolonisation.  Salem highlights the role that African feminists had in shaping policy that challenged colonial structures of global capital, including policies of industrialisation and nationalisation to promote independent development. She shows the important role that 鈥渞egionalism鈥� played in this, which for Salem refers to 鈥渢he Third Worldist belief in various decolonised regions coming together to confront colonial capitalism鈥� and is part of emerging pan-Africanism (160鈥�161). Salem鈥檚 analysis pushes contemporary pan-Africanism to explore 鈥渞adical regionalism鈥� and feminist contributions to 鈥渃onceptualise agency and sovereignty and incorporate gender into debates around African independence鈥� (162). 

The lessons in this collection apply to understanding the constraints and opportunities for meaningful African sovereignty in the twenty-铿乺st century. They are salutary and somewhat depressing, re铿俥cting on the ways in which attempts at autonomous postcolonial development were knocked back by the forces of imperialism. Yet they also provide the tools for understanding and confronting contemporary imperialism, reminding us of the need to interrogate the mantras of the IFIs and the triad of the US, EU and Japan. 

Ray Bush is Professor Emeritus of African Studies and Development Politics at the University of Leeds and Briefings and Debates Editor of the Review of African Political Economy (ROAPE).

* A more detailed version of this review is available as: Bush, R. (2023). ‘Africa Development’, Review of African Political Economy, 50(175), pp. 138-142. DOI: 10.1080/03056244.2023.2240674.

** Post-Colonialisms Today (PCT) is a research and advocacy project housed at and led by African activist-intellectuals recovering progressive policies from early post-independence Africa, and mobilizing them through a feminist lens to address contemporary challenges.  PCT released a special issue in the Africa Development journal () in 2022.

Photo of Nyerere’s statue in Dodoma by .