Conclusion

So where do we stand in regards of the question that we set out to address? The question was: Considering history, and the fact that most colonies chose systems of government based on the ‘Western democracy’ construct, were former colonies in Africa, at independence, in any position to meet these standards? Are they now? We have tried in this paper to go through the history of institutional development in the West and in former colonies in Africa, and to analyze their respective people’s access to various forms of capital, in order to assess: first whether both people were at equal footing when facing Democracy, and second whether the conditions were present in Africa to establish functional ‘Western Democratic’ systems of government.

The research that we presented above tends to show that there were several impediments to the creation of Western style democratic institutions in post-colonial Africa. Because of the special nature of the education system during the colonial era, subsequently under the colonial states, and even now, there is a need for widespread education reform. As we stated earlier, we want to generate means for the populations in Africa to enhance and ‘tap’ into their capitals; and an education that is centered not only on respect for the particular countries and cultures, and Africa as a whole, but also provides a truly global perspective, is the best enabler. Not only does it increase the histo-cultural capital of the society, and the individual learner, but progressively provide tools for the communities to compete in the global market. But that is another discussion.

We also find that the colonial powers did not have a will to bring the colonies to independence, as their continuous rhetoric during the colonial period, included an imperialistic view of African culture as an inferior construct, unworthy of consideration, and the African people as unworthy of total self-rule. The only interest that the colonizers consistently expressed for these Africans was for their land, their resources, and their soul. There is still a network of Western economic interests that tend not to be conducive to democracy. Additionally, the regimes born from the decolonization process were given no incentive to provide truly democratic systems, as it would ruin the goals of their own spheres of interests, and their foreign backers. It is from a combination of a wave of democratization in the World in the ‘90s, an increased education, the end of the Cold war and the resulting increase in global awareness, that the people of these countries gained the courage and incentive to revolt against the injustices of these regimes. Finally, the people in these countries were artificially socialized in a fashion that did not allow for a real common national identity, beyond that of the common rejection of their oppressive regimes. This leads us to state that the African states and their people were purposefully and intentionally under-prepared to the ‘Western Democracy’ construct, and that the post Cold War wave of change ignited, in fact, the first, homegrown, democratic realization of their nationhood. The process towards democracy in Africa, though beneficial, must therefore be considered a long-term internal process of self-affirmation, and the International Community must take this consideration into account when making policy recommendations regarding these countries. It is only with that self-affirmation that these countries will be able to deal effectively with such inevitable challenges they have faced, and will face in their future, as:

- Integrating ethnic and tribal identities into a larger respectful, positive construct of a nation, and a state (i.e.: this is one of the basis for the conflicts in Rwanda, Dem. Rep. of the Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sudan, etc.)
- Accepting and embracing the existing religious diversity (i.e.: this is one of the basis for tensions in Egypt, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Sudan, etc.)
- Dealing with the consequences of past and present racial prejudices (i.e.: this is a basis for tensions everywhere on the continent, but particularly in North Africa, South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, etc.)
- Integrating national identities into a constructive Pan-Africanism
- Constructively building on African heritage
- And finally, developing, in Africa, a sense of global citizenship, in a context that involves not inferiority to, but equality with the West

This process requires effort, time, and resources. Once again, this process requires campaigns of positive – as opposed to oppressive – education, and civic awareness. Furthermore, it requires a progress in economic development, with a fairer and increased access to the global market, with all the steps that involves[1]. And the power balance that currently exists in the World makes it so, that it is a process that will not succeed, without some level of new and truly genuine support from the West. When such conditions are met, if the institutions of Western Democracy are as universally applicable as they aspire to be, and as we believe they can be, they will arise and impose themselves naturally in Africa, in time, and democratically.

We did not discuss here issues regarding missionaries, and their impact on the stalling of African societies, as it would constitute an entire different paper. We also did not expand here on the effects (positive and negative) of globalization, multi-national corporations, as it would also be an entire paper in its own respect. Finally we did not expand on the role of human rights abuses for similar reasons. However, we must acknowledge that these are also elements that have a potential to affect and/or hinder the path towards Democracy, and will constitute the object of future papers, particularly in the greater task to find the root causes of conflict. At present, the situation in African countries, particularly poverty and its corollaries of under-education, diseases, unemployment, inequality and war, make it impossible for the people of these countries to participate in the Globalization process. Until they take steps to change the present situation, the states in Africa remain players in the International arena, but players with an artificially, purposefully and relentlessly created and maintained inadequacy for the game played in the said arena.

As I further reflected on the topic, certain questions still loomed in my head:

· If we agree on this general inadequacy of these African states in the World system, and considering the network of interests, can we therefore say that it is the source of the present day conflicts?
· How do we generate incentives for Western powers to get in a disposition that will allow both the advent of African grown and inclusive democracy, while guaranteeing their continued interests in a fair manner?
· How does this reflect on the recent efforts to bring about democracy by imposition, in other former colonial places in the world with explosive potential, such as Iraq?

These questions will provide me, and hopefully others, with some food for further thought and action on these issues. As to the long process of democratization that I envisage, I would like to submit here (ANNEX B), a model that my peer and friend Cody Reed designed as part of her economics curriculum, to establish systematic steps to reach democracy for African countries. I believe it is a good framework to think about actions that must be undertaken to vitalize the process. In the mean time, I would like to end on a note of optimism.

I tried to have an overview of the general situation in Africa, and I believe I gave a fair account of the realities of the vast majority of that continent. Nevertheless, we must acknowledge that though the majority of the countries continue to have doubtful regimes, some like Mali, Senegal, Botswana and South Africa succeeded in instituting increasingly functional democratic regimes. South Africa is even known for having the most progressive Constitution in the World, and truly abides by it, and should be recognized as a sign of hope for Africa. This progressive character is found mainly in the following excerpts:

“The official languages of the Republic are Sepedi, Sesotho, Setswana, siSwati, Tshivenda, Xitsonga, Afrikaans, English, isiNdebele, isiXhosa and isiZulu.”
-Chapter 1 “Founding Provisions”, Article 6, The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996

“The state may not unfairly discriminate directly or indirectly against anyone on one or more grounds, including race, gender, sex, pregnancy, marital status, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture, language and birth”.
-Chapter 2 “Bill of Rights”, Article 9, The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996[2]

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[1] See ANNEX C for an example of a Rostow type model for development in Africa, by my peer Cody Reed. This is based on a case study on Kenya.
[2] See Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 1996, in http://www.polity.org.za/html/govdocs/constitution/saconst.html?rebookmark=1