American federalism as storehouse experience for a federated Africa

Abstract

The main challenge confronting Africa today is poverty and the best approach to the continent’s worse position is the economic dependence on western countries, which implies their political dependence as well. But even if, the essence of such a situation mounts to history, one should also agree that Africa’s background history, marked with slavery and colonization, is not unique. The study on imperialism reveals that the United States of America, the most outstanding international power in almost every domain, was once a colony for an even longer period of time than it has been the case for Africa. A comparison, though informal, of the historical processes of both Africa and America would however reveal a kind of parallel: both got their independence from European powers; both had their entities immediately joined into a union (Confederation for America, Organization of African Unity for Africa); both unions proved inefficient, which led to changes: Federalism for America and African Union for Africans. But if for the former, the change has proved positive, it is the opposite for the latter. Based on that assumption, it is not understandable that the Organization of African Unity survived so long (about forty years) before African leaders found it unproductive; still the successor of the OAU has come dead-born: no change, no perspective for changes. A true federation of States is needed today before any real independence and prosperity of African countries can be effective; but with the present state of things, federating African States would not be possible unless it goes through effective regional integrations.

Keywords: African dependence, American Federal model, comparison of historical processes, OAU, African Union, federation