Introduction
Africa is a large continent that possesses a great number of mineral resources as well as rich soils and great potential to develop infrastructure. The latter notion has not been developed because of the colonization practices which took place on the African continent during many centuries. The book Africa in World Politics: A Pan-African Perspective written by Guy Martin clarifies the problems of African people. The tenth chapter of this book is a kind of conclusion which tells about the African predicament and its demise and introduces critics of leaders’ stubbornness.
Summary of Chapter 10
This chapter concludes on the discussion of problems which are faced by the inhabitants of the African continent and African predicament, “a term used by Andreski in the late 1960s to accurately describe the endemic African economic, social, and cultural crisis” (Martin, 2002, p. 267). The author of the book introduces different political figures, suchlike Walter Rodney and the former secretary-general of the OAU, who claim that the African potential has not been realized and that the African economic conditions were better forty years before. War, famine, and diseases are considered the recent reasons and manifestations of problems in the economic, social, and cultural areas.
Africa is situated on the undeveloped level of an economic sphere; its economy suffers from Structural Adjustment Programs which were supposed to improve the situation according to the policy of the international monetary Fund and the World Bank which give credits to African states that cannot give them back and the inflation rate increases. The main problem of the African states is that their sovereignty does not mean anything to different financial institutions, humanitarian organizations, and peacekeeping forces that try to interfere with the domestic affairs of the African states. The process of globalization is considered to have greatly contributed to the creation of an African leviathan (a monster which was described by the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes) whose main function seems to “exert political control and domination … over the African people” (Martin, 2002, p. 271). Political leaders of the African countries are believed to be interested in the survival of their countries rather than in their development, prosperity, and wealth.
Guy Martin presents a theory of the ideal African state which is governed by philosopher-kings (as in Plato’s theory of the ideal state), and the security and peaceful orientation are the most important directions on the way of developing the state. The problem is that all the “obvious shortcomings and the dismal failure of the post-colonial African nation-state” (Martin, 2002, p. 271) have been recognized and analyzed; the next step should be to create an infrastructure that would include the minor structures in economic, social, and political spheres of all African states.
Conclusion
To summarize, the author presents Makau wa Mutua’s variant of uniting the African states into a federation of independent states with a view to geographic position, common infrastructures, and historic origins. Guy Martin assesses the maximalist Pan-African blueprints; he suggests that the process of globalization is the main problem and that the African Union, which was transformed from the OAU (Organization of African Unity) in June 2001, can be abolished and the map would be redrawn. The final ideas introduced by the author sound in a very patriotic manner; he says that the time has come for the United States of Africa (Martin, 2002, p. 280).
Reference
Martin, G. (2002). Africa in World Politics: A Pan-African Perspective. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press