Topic: Weak state capacity & underdevelopment in Africa: (Read 171 times)

This has always been the problem of African at large, the power at the center is too much there should be devaluation of federal power, in Nigeria to be precise they said they are practicing true federalism which I feel that it is a fallacy on the high side, true federalism is when the state government takes revenue within their jurisdiction and pay a particular amount of tax to the federal government but I will tell you for free that the case is different not only in Nigeria but in Africa in general, it is important that balance of equation should exist between the state and federal to avoid the excessive misuse of power.

Sometimes I just feel the Africa people don't really  know what they want because if truly they know what they want and that  will be good for Africa they will work towards it because Africa already has all it takes to become the best . With all what Africa has they haven't done anything to make the region better , just the same as if nothing has ever happened.

To start with, Africa don't have institution. Institution is what helps a country to grow but when that is not happening you see corruption taking over.


No matter how we look at the African integration into the economic order, it has helped the continent. African like the third world countries benefit from the credit facilities that others get, the other support from the world organisations that they are party to like 300 of, WHO, UN, UNESCO, IMF etc. Also in sports , Africa benefit from soccer tournament like FIFA both for men and women. There are alot of gains being incorporated in the world but African leaders are corrupt, most of the subventiona coming to African people go to few families.

African leaders are mainly corrupt and because it is far easier to blame colonialism for everything to an ignorant population they have managed to loot and pillage their peoples natural resources unchallenged apart from the odd military coup by other gangsters who want their piece of the pie. Africans have spent centuries killing each other and blame all their ills on the white man. Look at south africa or zimbabwae for an example and see what happens when they do finally manage to take back control from their oppressors. The economies disintegrate and the infrastructure crumbles all the while the loot all around them at the same time blaming the whites man for their ills when it all falls apart and there is nothing more to break or steal that the white man has built in the first place. If black Africans hate whites so much then why do they go to europe and why do they always steer politically in the direction of communists and dictators when given power? Imagine if the EFF took power in South africa for example what further looting and killing would take place against the white minority who built all the infrastructure and wealth there further destroying its economic existence? Africa needs to become civilized before it can become developed so any future developments can be sustainable. Imagine building a great company in Africa for it to be seized by some communists at the next election and your white CEO being dragged out into the street burned alive with tyres around them by an angry communist mob who some demagogue told them was their enemy while same demagogue communist thug drives off in his capitalist mercedes benz to his beach front mansion to plot how to loot it all over again once he gets enough savages to believe how the white jew or christian man is satan while at the same time they cast satanic voodoo spells on him? The masses are so dangerously ignorant they are ripe for exploitation by a demagogue once the economy falls to pieces after the looting.

Did you know that a white student in a south african university has to get far more points/grades than a black student to earn the same degree and that a company has by law to have more blacks in positions in their companies along with government and public services. South africa is technically a black COMMUNIST aparteid regime.

Most countries were colonized in one form or another at some point in their history. But the most prominent exception is the African countries, most of which did not succeed in economic advancement despite the abundant natural resources. The colonial countries succeeded in leaving their agents at the helm of power in all the countries they colonized before they gave them independence, and in the countries in which national movements emerged in which armed militias and civil wars were supported. All this so that all good things remain deported to colonial countries such as Britain and France.

I'm tired of people blaming the underdevelopment of Africa on colonization. For Christ sake, African countries were not the only countries that were colonized. USA was colonized, Canada was colonized, Australia was colonized, but all these countries are doing way better than every single African country. Some were even colonized by the same country.

African countries have everything it takes to be great but they have refused to. The leaders are just greedy and selfish. There are natural resources in Africa but they are mismanagement.
External people can't even into a country to exploit the country's resources if the leaders were not greedy.

Ignoring the people and making them unable to know their true capabilities is part of the colonial policy of the imperialist countries. It was not possible for them to preserve their interests after ending direct colonization of Africa except by employing agents for them in those countries who are professional in politics and contribute to the further impoverishment of their countries.

The clearest example is in countries that managed to get rid of corrupt rulers and embarked on the development process. Today you will find it one of the most developed countries on the economic level.

What is weak state? there is no state in the world that is weak, all states has it own potentials. Africa underdevelopments are cause by African leaders, who are  so corrupt and wicked. they are only interested in power and not in Governance, they mingle with every external force without studying the full interest they have in mind for the continent. we can only build Africa to our best by ourselves, no one is coming to help us.

The OP describes a situation but the problem is just the problem not a solution. I would be interested in anyone that sees a path from point A - countries ruled by an elite that is not interested in development, particularly in social development, to point B, a country that is mostly ruled by the people of the country and is seeking in general a way to progress.

Africa is a complex continent, with many problems but also many people willing to continue to go on and solved them, unfortunately most of those people are not in a position of power or in a position which could bring help to others.

It is a story which repeats itself very often in other continents where sub-development is the norm. I personally think that besides the unfortunate history of colonization typical of Africa, we should also take a look how the culture impact the politics and economics of a country and a whole continent.

Despite the trifling reasons behind underdevelopment in Africa, it is the witnessed influx of foreigners and investors who took advantage of our intelligence and policies to enrich themselves that is also responsible for the weak state capacity it faces.
Am saying so because if African leaders were to converge and abide strictly to the laws and institute policies that engages and enriches its citizens by patronizing home developed products and technology, underdevelopment would become literally extinct from the African vocabulary.

And the mental colonialism that many institutions have not been able to outgrow, because how some of these institutions depended on colonial masters and their mentality as well as rules and principles to be functioning, and now cannot act on their own because they believe that whatever mode of operation they try to form on their own is not good enough. Serious colonialism in some African nations made them believe that they cannot think on their own, many of these nations are still suffering from this mentality, that is why they are always copying the actions of similar institutions in the country of their colonial masters. It is a big problem.

There's a bunch of countries that can serve as examples here. Liberia used to be a colony, but wanted to be independent, so it made its own constitution with the help of the US, which later lead to a military coup, like in many other African countries where the law is made by those who take power and manage to hold it by force. The country "liberated" itself completely from foreigners, becoming the poorest in Africa. A country where people were working like slaves for less than a dollar a day. Not joking here, look it up, the minimum wage is currently around 0.7 USD per day.
If I recall correctly, they even tried to invite foreigners back to start businesses there but nobody wanted to risk it, after the last time where some of them were killed defending their land from the militants.

I am convinced that if African countries do not unite, they will be shifted to the burden of global crises, as usual. Africa is a land full of bounties, and the greed of the major powers will not stop to continue draining its resources. Because of this, the colonial powers were and still are seeking to keep Africa as a land of wars and conflicts.

With regard to climate change, Africa cannot be excluded from the equation, even if it is the least affected. But the big countries will count on Africa to support the affected areas with subsidized goods and materials. Proposals may appear to transfer people from the affected countries to African countries, especially since they can be incubators.

I think they only come after your resources and once they managed to get some huge amount of it, they left you with nothing but false promises. This is what happened to most countries in Arica and when it teams up with some corrupt government, the result is what we have seen right now because after decades, their countries are still undeveloped though they have more resources than some first-class countries in the world the problem is they don't really know which one to trust and they always ended up losing due to their poor decision making when it comes to choose who will lead their country.

It is, and until Africa breaks away from the Foreign Policies and interference, they are going nowhere. Look at all those loans from World Bank, IMF, or China. You think they are being given to African states in good faith?

The loans are in exchange for minerals, other natural resources, power over the continent's leaders turning them into puppets and cheap labour. I don't know why people don't see this.
African states can not for example independently make critical decisions without threats and sanctions from the West.

It shouldn't matter anymore if those concepts are African's or not what matters is how Africa has been able to move away from those concepts they met. To a larger extent Africa has not done much to move out and present to the world the natural sweet flavour from Africa. If you looking at other third world countries, they are now in strong competition with technological countries because they have got the purpose of leadership. Ghana got independence in 1957, Nigeria in 1960 , these countries are 67 and 63 years old respectively but they have not done much for themselves. Malaysia had independence in 1957 and Singapore in 1965 but you can't compare both economics in terms of export and exportation speaks volume about where the country is moving its economy to.

You tell a bunch of Africans who are burning fecal matter to produce fuel about the climate change initiatives of other countries and they'll laugh. Africa won't be severely affected by climate change. It's within their interest to start capitalizing on as many natural resources as they can, fueled by cheap oil if they can get it. Economies thrive on cheap hydrocarbons. Seemingly every other country has developed their economies on cheap energy but Africans got the short end of the stick. Lot of their natural resources were stolen using cheap labor and exporting them out of the country.

The poor state of Africa isn’t contributed to by just foreign policies and interference.

Africans aren’t willing to help develop the nation states that exists within her. The development of Africa is as much impeded upon by foreign policy as well as its people. How do you hope to develop your nation when you have the idea it’s greener in some foreign or far away land. Of course it’s greener where you water it.

Having our resources both human and material chattered away to be refined and sent back to us isn’t taking us no where and it only ensures we are second and underdeveloped still and the African leaders haven’t been very helpful with each having a selfish interest towards wealth accumulation.

Still, it’s important not to give up on hope as, it’s the only thing that’s could ensure the good will and effort to spring forth some form of development.

Partly this conclusion can be considered correct. But in fact, we cannot say that Africa was in the middle of the global economic system.
Part of the economies of the important major countries in the world depends mainly on the wealth of the less fortunate ones, and of course Africa was and still is the most drained continent in order to build advanced civilizations in other places.

Another evidence is when the continent finds itself affected by climatic changes that were not the cause of it, nor even contributed to its exacerbation. Today, the major countries are mobilizing the whole world to confront the catastrophic changes on the planet that they were the cause of and that they are supposed to bear the consequences of on their own.