The Political, Economic, and Ideological Tendencies in Africa
The political, economic, and ideological tendencies in Africa are similar, despite the differences in historical experience, colonial heritage, and culture. Thus Claude Ake observes in his "The Congruence of Political Economies and Ideologies in Africa":
All African countries, even the most obviously capitalist, such as Nigeria, Zaire, Ivory Coast and Senegal, have very large public sectors which are getting larger in every case. This type of economy was a legacy of colonialism which could not be maintained without statism. It is precisely such statism and its associated dominance of the public sector that makes the struggle to power in Africa so bitter. It means that, all over Africa, the state has become the major and sometimes the only owner of industry; the control of the machinery of the state is the key to wealth. In such circumstances the premium of political power becomes very high. The trend all over Africa has been an ever greater increase in the role of the state in the economy. The pressures for this development are the same all over Africa . . .
In all African countries, the leaders have held tenaciously to power. Change of government is brought about only by force. The second development is that political systems of Africa have become uniformly monolithic. Power has become cenfralized, and opposition to those in power is illegitimate. Third, all African countries are now de facto oneparty systems in which the masses have been effectively depoliticized, in the sense that their political participation has been reduced to choices that are totally inconsequential. . . . Elections have become a redundant formality all over Africa. Dissident groups, counter-elites and progressives are intimidated, incarcerated, or murdered. Workers’ movements are deprived of all autonomy and effectiveness.
They do this by punishing with the utmost ruthlessness all nonconformist behaviour, particularly that which challenges property rights and behaviour that allegedly undermines the legitimacy of the rulers. The evidence is overwhelming. There is no country in Africa that does not impose unspeakably harsh punishment — sometimes up to a decade in prison — for petty theft. There is no African country which is not freely using state power to imprison, banish, or murder political dissenters. What is happening in Africa is a reflection not of the uniqueness of the character of Africans, but rather of social forces which have the same effect wherever they occur. In all very poor countries where the rulers maintain exploitative relations and where the struggle for the surplus is very grim, the established order can be maintained only by ruthless coercion verging on fascism. But the survival of a regime in conditions of intense competition for a meagre surplus demands not only force, but also — perhaps most importantly — the rendering of privilege and exploitation by the rulers invisible. The present rulers of Africa are becoming increasingly aware of this point, and they are taking steps to conceal their privileges and their exploitation.
