Globalisation and African renaissance: prospects and challenges

Abstract

The nation- state in Africa seemed doomed from the beginning as the colonial powers carved up Africa with little regard to logical boundaries based on communities of similar language and culture. The liberation movements, filled with noble ideals, assumed political power using the colonially imposed nation- state as the basis for the nationalism. However, in most cases they disappointed their people after ascending to positions of political authority in independent Africa. This political failure has great consequences for African political and economic development. Given this scenario, the current wave of globalization promises opportunities for a new beginning for Africa but the question remains that what are the alternatives available to Africa? The World Bank argues that it needs to be more integrated into the world economy in order to develop, while others believe that a partial “de - linking” from the world capitalist economy is necessary for self—reliant development. The fact however remains that while proposals for self—reliance may seem feasible if not desirable in principle, in practice it will take a number of revolutions of immense dimensions to implement. These are the salient issues addressed by this paper.

African Journal for the Psychological Study of Social Issues Vol. 9(1) 2006: 67-80