Why Most Policies Fail in Africa

Problems began for Africa when there was the “scramble for Africa. Africa was extremely divided throughout the continent. There was no nation intact. Even though they were divided into colonies, they still had no sovereignty. Since they had no form of nationalism it made it impossible to succeed as a

Culture is very important to many individuals in this world. It plays key parts in a vast amount of people’s lives. While some may follow everything to do with their culture, your culture doesn’t have to affect your life. You can still choose to have your own personal views, or to follow your accustomed culture. People will all view everything differently depending on who they are, what cultural background they have, and what scenario they’re in.

Through direct rule, the foreign rulers helped the country assimilate into a stronger, more sophisticated government. The former monarchs were replaced with foreign leaders trained to lead the nation into a more successful system. The process of modernization began as well as the development of a true democracy (Spielvogel and McTighe 236). A document describing a war between Rhodesia and South Africa demonstrates how this system was being used. The document was written by the Umkhonto we Sizwe or the military wing of the African National Congress describing that they were at war (Document 10). It can then be inferred that the Congress was making decisions for the country, in the way a democracy does. This also demonstrates the influence that Western culture had on the African people because a Congress was established and used to help run the country, instead of the traditional monarchy. Another example is how African people were eligible to run for office in the French National Assembly. This gave the people the opportunity to serve their country as some high powered positions became filled by people of African descent (Spielvogel and McTighe 235). Through this introduction, the population had adopted to their new lifestyles and began to thrive, no longer feeling as though foreign leaders were needed to help run the

Initially, the British restricted all colonial power and heavily

We have seen through lectures and through this book the dangers of imperialism. The use of indirect leaders leads to very little reprentation in government and therefore not a whole lot of say for those who are being colonized. We see the negative consequences of Imperialism very stated in colonial India.

In the 19th and 20th centuries Europe was thriving and wealthy while most of their colonies in Africa were suffering under their rule. The Europeans all wanted a piece of Africa’s land with its plentiful resources and free labor. Around this time, Europe was going through the industrial revolution and because business was booming the European countries need more resources than they already had. The Africans had the land the Europeans wanted to use to continue having booming businesses, they also had African slaves and workers that they can use so they don’t have to pay for labor. In the 19th century leader of the Europeans countries want to discuss how they will divide Africa without the leaders of Africa knowing. The Europeans then started to invade Africa and take control over the citizens. As the Europeans got more powerful, the Africans become more miserable. Unable to match the guns Europe had, African countries began getting claimed, one by one with the exception of two. The Europeans ruled in a cruel way that left many Africans dead or suffering. Many countries tried and successfully broke away from Europeans after many years under colonization. The Europeans had a negative impact on the lives of many Africans in the 19th and 20th centuries, especially with racism and assimilation. People were taught to be a human they had to be like a European which led to many racist views on African people and culture and is why some nations like France used assimilation to make

continents and countries outside of Africa that played a big role in the Atlantic Slave trade and in the long run caused Africa to have a huge delay in it’s development. This concept includes exports of slaves by sex and age, prices of exports, changes in quantity of slaves, and the products/resources that were big in trade. Afrique Engagée caused Europe to have so much power and success over Africa based on Africa’s goods and people. Emergent Africa, which includes the issue of Africa was just an effect of Afrique Engagée.

After the Europeans had secured land in Africa, all the seven European countries imposed harsh authoritarian rule over the people of Africa. These rules ensured that the people of the land did not further resist as they did in the past and to maintain total control over resources. Not only did Europeans enforce this harsh rule upon African citizens but they also imposed provincial taxes upon them which extorted more resources from these nations also on top of what natural resources they previously extorted.

Across the continent nations were faced with the challenges of strengthening and growing their national unity and security to allow for continued growth. Many areas across Africa have witnessed failed states that lead to economic and political turmoil steaming from decades of failed European policy. In addition to the failed policy, European rulers left Africa with a complex problem of handling human rights. Under European colonial control African people were subjects to their European controlled courts which left them as inferior to those who were occupying their land. In many cases the indigenous people of Africa were forced into slavery to serve the colonial powers in the areas of industry and agriculture. The indigenous people of Africa were also forced to carry identification badges and were subject to continues brutality by authorities. Many areas throughout Africa are still stricken with deep wounds and divides from racism related to European rule. Even to this day the effects of European colonial rule have hindered the continents view of having a long history of developing new techniques and

In some parts of Africa the Europeans rule which means they ruled through government officials in the area. Some Europeans, however, abused that power. In an article by The Golden Coast Leader they define indirect ruling as a “System by which the political officer can drive the wedge of divide-and-rule through any tendency on the part of the people to come together to develop political ideas” (Document 10). Here, The Golden Coast Leader is showing how the indirect ruling system is not a great idea because it leads to Africans being unstable in running their own government. After having the Europeans run their country for so long the Africans of that nation most likely would not know how to do it for themselves. The Africans have only watched others rule, so they have no experience for themselves. Africans have no freedom in their own home, Nnamdi Azikiwe a young leader in Nigeria's fight for independence, who later became the first president of Nigeria stated, “We demand the right to be free to make mistakes and learn from our experience” (Document 8). Africans wanted to be able to make decisions for themselves and even if they do not make the best choice it’s okay because they can learn from that. Imperialism took that away from them, Africans never got to decide s for themselves. Learning from mistakes would make them grow as a nation, but the Europeans did it

During the 1870’s Europeans started colonizing countries in Africa.Europrans did this because they needed all of Africa's valuable resources.Africa was a big target because they were not very modernized in technology so it was easier for the Europeans to sieze control. The Europeans controlled Africa in two ways direct and indirect rule. Direct rule is when the country in charge rules strictly over the country and they try to civilize the people they are ruling. Indirect ruling is when the country in charge is ruling from far away and they usually rule through a native leader. Imperialism negatively affected the lives of the Africans in the 19th and 20th century because the education the Europeans provided for the Africans was of poor quality,

Define culture: Culture refers to beliefs, values and norms of a group of people from a particular ethnic or cultural background. Even though each culture has their unique characters, but there are elements common to all human cultures. By definition, this is what we call “cultural universal”. For instance, fear of supernaturals, food, clothing, money, education etc. There are ethnocentric people, who believe that their culture or ethnic group is superior to all others. The Nazi Germany back in 1931 wanted to transmit the idea that the German race were of a superior race than all races around the globe. More often than not this kind of cultural globalization can create conflict and tension among nations.

In the late nineteenth century the European powers of the world began imperializing Africa. This annexation, occupation, and division of African territory has since led to much strife within the continent and has caused many struggles politically. This period known as the “Scramble for Africa” has led to the many problems that Africa faces today and has been the root of several wars in Africa to assume control. After World War II many European imperialists began to give African nations autonomy. This seemed like a step forward for African nations, but without any plan to transition into self governance many African nations have faced bloody civil wars and corruption. Along with political struggles, numerous African nations face rising debt and other economic problems. Many of these political and economic issues stem from the “Scramble for Africa”. Once the European countries left Africa had very little to support itself. To explain the issues left by imperialism the three African nations of Rwanda, South Africa, and Sierra Leone will be put under the scope.

First, Africa was finally given a place in the international community because of New Imperialism. For hundreds of years, an entire fifth of the inhabited Earth was excluded from the world’s most important decisions. But because of New Imperialism, they were able to

How should an empire assert their claim to territory and how should they govern it? This question is important because there are a number of methods an empire could employ presiding over a colony. For example the French empire employed a system call direct rule. The French rulers wanted to assimilate or incorporate the peoples of West Africa . The British however preferred a system called indirect rule and it was applied to many of their West African colonies including Nigeria and Ghana. It has proven to be detrimental to problems in Africa and can be linked to the political past of the British colonial government. The goal of this paper is to expose the reasons for indirect rule in British colonies and the negative impact of post colonial development in West Africa.