Introduction
Development experts retain Sub-Saharan Africa as a case study in the perpetration of poverty, disease, illiteracy, and poor governance. The continent’s abundant resources that saw the world powers of the eighteenth century scramble for it.
Despite immense opportunities such as financial and technical development aid, Sub-Saharan Africa has failed to take advantage of the opportunities for development. Sub-Saharan Africa has some of the grimmest statistics relating to poverty incidence. The region remains stuck in the rut after many years of self-rule. This paradox is worth exploring. How can a region so rich in terms of natural resources fail to meet its basic obligations towards its people?
Measures of Development
In order to consider this question, we need to have a working definition for development. There is no consensus on the definition of development (Misra). For the purposes of this paper, we shall look at development as socioeconomic and political maturity. Socioeconomic maturity revolves around the social superstructure of the society, and the economic systems that underpin its resource mobilization process.
The coherence of the society lies in working social systems. Lack of these represents some kind of poverty for the people. Economic systems ensure there is a means of acquiring the resources necessary for survival and lifting up of people’s living standards. Political maturity refers to the ability of a group of people to determine the form of governance they want and to participate in it. These wide definitions will provide the measure against which we will explore the effects of globalization on Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Scope of Sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa constitutes all the countries that lie below or within the Sahara desert. These countries share many characteristics such as level of development, colonial history, political systems, and economic performance. These characteristics do not constitute uniformity.
Rather, they show the maturity of the countries. For instance, the poverty incidence, disease and education levels seem to compare closely among the countries irrespective of their political systems and economic outlay. Most of these countries are at a basic level of development. A small strip of countries around North Africa does not form part of Sub-Saharan Africa. Development experts regard them as part of the Arab world. Most of them have higher per-capita income and GDP compared to Sub-Saharan countries.
Pre-Colonial Africa
Africa’s heritage spans millennia when viewed from the perspective of ancient Egypt. Egypt retains a unique place in world history as an ancient civilization that influenced the world profusely in its time.
However, very little information exists today about what was happening in Sub-Saharan Africa during that period. There are some interesting historical accounts about traditional kingdoms in Africa revolving around personalities such as Shaka Zulu, kingdoms in West and Central Africa such as the Aksum, and the mention of Ethiopia in ancient times as an influential kingdom (Zamosky).
African people living south of the Sahara had different types of governments and lived in diverse ways. Amongst them, there were farmers, pastoralists, hunters and gatherers, and traders. Initial external influence brought about by technological advances in the East and in the West set the foundations for the modern day problems Africa deals with today.
In that era, the Arabs and the Indians sought to trade with inland tribes in the continent and as a result, they developed several coastal towns. One of the significant cultural consequences of this interaction is the Swahili language and culture that developed when Arabs intermarried with the Bantu speaking tribes residing at the East African coast.
With the advent of slave trade, the exportation of many Africans especially from West Africa led to the growth of African populations in America and the Caribbean (Loomba). This probably represents some of the worst form of exploitation in the history of the continent. It set the stage for the unending exploitation the continent lives with to date.
When Europe industrialized, it looked at Africa with renewed interest as a source of raw materials for industries back home. All countries that had the means took over territories in Africa and administered them in the interest of their own countries. Africa, especially Sub-Saharan Africa, saw the exploitation of its natural resources such as wood, wildlife, and minerals for the benefit of European countries.
Scramble for Africa
At Berlin in 1890, a conference held to discuss the matter of Africa ended with a division of the continent into colonies, marking the beginning of the colonial era for Africa. Page defines colonialism as the “domination or assertion of control by one human group over another” (xxi). Depending on the country, natives lost their land, their livelihoods, cultural heritage, and dignity at the hands of colonial masters. Where locals resisted, they suffered the full force of the more advanced war machines the colonial masters had developed.
The scramble and colonization of Africa watered the seeds planted in the previous era of slave trade, which by then was illegal in many European countries. Africa suffered official exploitation in the hands of the colonial masters, reducing the natives to servants and clerks. Infrastructural development did not consider the needs of the locals, but served to make the exportation of resources more efficient.
The first and second world wars were blessing in disguise for Africa in the quest for self-determination. Colonial masters recruited Africans as soldiers to fight for them in wars that they did not understand. The experience from the wars gave Africans the confidence and mindset required to fight with modern weapons. Soon after the Second World War, Africa became the next battlefield with various forms of independence struggles coming up.
Positive Impacts of Development from the Colonial Era
The colonial era gave Africa its first formal administrative system. This came with Africa’s first maps and plans. The infrastructural outlay laid by the colonial masters remains a legacy of colonialism in Africa. Many cities in Africa today still use the plans produced by the colonialists. The Balkanizing of Africans into certain territories provided an environment conducive for social integration and cohesion.
With the colonial masters as a common enemy, Africans experienced a sense of kinship only possible under common persecution. On economic development, sub-Saharan Africa benefited from the knowledge generated in the west on economic planning. This made African countries do well economically since the colonialists came with a superior set of economic skills compared to what was in place in sub-Saharan Africa at that time.
Negative Impacts
On the other hand, irreversible loss of African traditions and culture occurred when colonialists forced different tribes and communities to live and work together in farms and in the service of the colonial regimes. Africa took on a new way of life revolving around modern trends and services.
Old systems died. Prior to the entry of colonialism, tribes protected their territories and their way of life. War was the means of settling disputes. The stronger tribes took over territory from their subdued or vanquished enemies. Culture was alive. Each people group upheld its norms and practices. Africans had a means of self-determination that describes how leadership transited. The colonial period snuffed all these things out. It is an irrecoverable loss for Sub-Saharan Africa.
Postcolonial Africa
The post second world war period saw the resurgence of the Pan African movement which came about forty years ealier (Adi and Sherwood). It brought together opinion leaders who saw the need of an ideological affront against the colonial masters. Africa rose to fight off colonial rule with different countries using different means to rid themselves of foreign masters. A new phase of development ensued. Political development arose throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Economic and social development took much longer to attain.
As countries got their independence, a number of them went through tough periods of coup’s and counter coups as leaders, selfish for political power, or disgruntled by the ruling class sought to liberate their countries from the new masters. An inevitable decline in political successes ensued. With it went all possibility of social integration and cohesion among citizens. Some countries developed and applied sound economic policies, which saw them become economically stable, yet others continued to flounder.
Globalization and its Effects on Africa’s Development
The history of Africa shows us that globalization is a serious force to reckon with. In a globalized world, there will be a single society and culture occupying the planet” (Waters, 5).
Globalization is a recent term that describes the process of integration between countries. However, we can trace the process of globalization to the early-recorded history of the African continent. Sub-Saharan Africa lags behind in taking advantage of global opportunities that exist today. This is because of internal and external factors. Internal factors hindering Africa’s development include ineffective governance hindering the development and implementation of effective economic, social, and political goals.
On the other hand, globalization has led to the further exposure of Africa as a source of resources. Initially, natural resources were the main resources sought after. Increasingly, African intellectual resource base is in the cross hairs of foreign powers. This phenomenon, referred to as brain drain, leaves Africa the poorer. On the other hand, Africa has an immense potential to reverse all the historical injustices and consequences of globalization that it has used as an excuse for its state.
With a bulging population of young educated people, Africa can follow the example of India and China to find businesses made possible by the internet. Business Process outsourcing has the potential of offering Africa the much-needed jobs for its young people. Some Sub-Saharan African countries such as Tanzania have been able to transform their social systems to the extent that they have achieved admirable social cohesion and integration. Many countries still struggle with issues of tribalism and ethnicity.
Economically, some countries such as South Africa and Namibia have been able to develop enviable economic models that the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa will do well to emulate. Political development allowing citizens to exercise their right to self-determination puts Ghana in a good standing and provides a proper perspective and motivation for the rest of the African countries. Clearly, based on our analysis criteria for development, not many sub-Saharan countries may claim that they have it all right.
However, there are some sterling examples, which provide hope for a better Sub-Saharan Africa. There are some terrible stories from Sub-Saharan Africa too. They include the failed state of Somalia, the genocide of Rwanda, and perennial famines of Ethiopia. Africa has more than its fair share of dictators and bungling of elections is the norm rather than the exception. The Kenyan and the Ivorian cases come to mind.
Poverty incidence, disease, and illiteracy remain formidable enemies in the sub-Saharan region. In the end, anyone who wants to be pessimistic about Africa has enough reasons to do that, but it is not all lost, with some glimmer of hope coming from various corners of the Dark Continent.
Conclusion
So, what went wrong in Africa? This question has no simple answer. However, based on the preceding discussion, it is evident that there is the hand of the East and the West in making Africa what it is today.
This is not an excuse for Sub-Saharan Africa to sit pretty, but it explains some of the things that have made a continent full of resources fall into near abyss. Africa was let down in the past by foreigners who tampered with its fledgling socioeconomic and political systems, and is currently being let down by its own leadership which fails to address these issues convincingly and sustainably.
Works Cited
Adi, Hakim and Marika Sherwood. Pan-African History: Political FIgures from Africa and the DIaspora since 1787. New York, NY.: Routledge, 2003.
Loomba, Ania. Colonialism/Postcolonialism. New York, NY.: Routledge, 2005.
Misra, R. P. Developement Issues of Our Time. New Delhi: COncept Publishing Company, n.d.
Page, Melvin E. Colonialism: An International Social, Cultural, and Political Encylopeadia. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2003.
Waters, Malcom. Globalization. New York, NY: Routledge, 2001.
Zamosky, Lisa. Sub-Saharan Africa: World Cultures Through Time. Huntington Beach, CA: Teacher Created Materials, 2007.