An Introduction to African PoliticsAn Introduction to African Politicsis the ideal textbook for those new to the study of this vast and fascinating continent. It makes sense of the diverse political systems that are a feature of Africa by using familiar concepts, chapter by chapter, to examine the continent as a whole. The result is a textbook that identifies the essential features of African politics, allowing students to grasp the recurring political patterns that have dominated this part of the world since independence. Features and benefits of the book include: * thematically organised, with individual chapters exploring issues such as colonialism, ethnicity, nationalism, social class, ideology, legitimacy, sovereignty, and democracy * identifies the key recurrent theme of competitive relationships between the African state, its civil society, and external interests * contains useful boxed case studies of key countries at the end of each chapter, including: Kenya; Tanzania; Nigeria; Botswana; Ivory Coast; Uganda; Somalia; Ghana; Zaire; and Algeria * each chapter concludes with key terms and definitions as well as questions, advice on further reading, and useful notes and references * clearly and accessibly written by an experienced teacher of the subject. |
Contents
Introduction state civil society and external interests | 1 |
History Africas precolonial and colonial inheritance | 7 |
The colonial inheritance | 9 |
State and civil society | 20 |
Kenyas historical inheritance | 21 |
Ideology nationalism socialism populism and state capitalism | 30 |
Decolonisation in Africa | 31 |
Nationalism | 33 |
Problems facing military rulers | 129 |
The outcomes of military rule in Africa | 131 |
State and civil society | 133 |
Sovereignty External influences on African politics | 141 |
InterAfrican international relations | 142 |
Superpowers the Cold War and Africa | 143 |
The impact of the Cold War on African politics | 149 |
Africa and the New World Order | 150 |
African nationalism | 34 |
The differing ideological shades of African nationalism | 36 |
State and civil society | 44 |
socialism and ujamaa in Tanzania | 48 |
Ethnicity Ethnic groups tribes and political identity | 57 |
Definitions of ethnicity | 58 |
Ethnicity as a method of modern political mobilisation | 62 |
State and civil society | 64 |
ethnicity and the nationstate in Nigeria | 65 |
Social class The search for class politics in Africa | 74 |
The problems of exporting Marx to Africa | 76 |
The African mode of production | 77 |
A more flexible look at social class in Africa | 79 |
The value of class analysis in explaining African politics | 89 |
State and civil society | 91 |
social class in Botswana | 92 |
Legitimacy Neopatrimonialism personal rule and the centralisation of the African state | 99 |
Centralisation of the African state | 100 |
Personal rule | 107 |
The search for legitimacy | 110 |
Clientelism | 111 |
State and civil society | 112 |
personal rule in Cote dlvoire | 114 |
Coercion Military intervention in African politics | 121 |
African military coups detat | 122 |
Why has Africa experienced so many military coups? | 126 |
State civil society and external interests | 154 |
Somalias international relations | 156 |
Sovereignty again Neocolonialism structural adjustment and Africas political economy | 165 |
Burdens of the international economy | 168 |
The African debt crisis | 171 |
The era of structural adjustment | 173 |
The economic social and political ramifications of structural adjustment | 175 |
State civil society and external interests | 179 |
Ghanas structural adjustment | 181 |
Authority The crises of accumulation governance and state collapse | 189 |
The growing crisis of state legitimacy | 190 |
The loss of state authority | 195 |
The states own survival strategies | 200 |
State and civil society | 203 |
Zaire Mobutus vampire state | 205 |
Democracy Relegitimising the African state? | 215 |
Democracy | 216 |
Explaining the emergence of multiparty democracy | 218 |
The obstacles to democratic consolidation | 222 |
State and civil society | 231 |
the search for democracy in Algeria | 232 |
Conclusions State and civil society in post colonial Africa | 242 |
Multiparty legislative and presidential elections in Africa independence to 1999 | 247 |
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| 268 | |
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Common terms and phrases
activity administration African countries African governments African leaders African politics African socialism Algeria Angola army authority Botswana bourgeoisie bureaucratic bourgeoisie capital capitalist cent centralised chapter civil society client-patron networks clients cocoa coercion Cold War collapse conflict Consequently continent's Côte d'Ivoire coup d'état crisis decolonisation democratic dominant economic Ethiopia ethnic groups example exploitation export external interests forces Ghana Houphouët-Boigny ideology imperial Incumbents independence inheritance institutions intervention investment Kenya labour legal-rational legitimacy liberal democracy Malawi military coup mobilisation Mobutu mode of production modern Mozambique multi-party democracy multi-party elections nationalist Nigeria Nyerere one-party opposition organisations party patronage peasants personal rule pluralism political process political system poll post-colonial post-colonial Africa post-colonial period President regime region respect result ruling elite Rwanda sector Similarly Somalia sovereignty Soviet Union state's strategies structural adjustment Tanzania territory tion traditional Uganda West Western World Zaire Zambia