Sovereignty and safety - Assignment Example

 1. In our past every country tended to gain independence as it brought a lot of new opportunities. This is natural that the citizens of every state that was going to become independent expected only positive changes from their new position. They expected the freedoms and opportunities the citizens of independent countries have. Certainly, they believed that their new government will be able to provide them with all the possible conditions and legislation that will allow them to receive all the possible advantage from new opportunities in the field of education, healthcare, employment, etc. However, very often these expectations were not lived up as it not very easy for the new government to rule the country. These difficulties created new problems for newly independent state, especially if these were African states, which became independent after the long years of colonial regime. Colonizers ruled the country in their own way and it was not very easy for the new government to cope with all the problems that a newly independent country may have faced. There can be the following four main issues of the post-colonial period defined: Sovereignity and safety. The government of the newly independent states should have taken care of sovereignty and safety. This was important because the countries were created and ruled by colonizers and in the new conditions they could easily disintegrate; Propaganda of unity. The colonies created by Europeans had different culture and different languages, thus it was essential to provide national unity. People with different culture and religions belief had to realize that they are citizens of one country called Africa. Otherwise, the country would not be able to exist; Ethic conflicts prevention. The main principle of colonial policy was “divide and rule”. This created very difficult relations between the ethnic groups. Many of them were aggressive in their attitudes towards the other. Thus, it was important for the government to prevent further conflicts; Human services provision. Colonial regime did not prescribe satisfying basic human needs of the citizens of colonies. Colonists needed only their work and did not think about what they need. Thus, it was important for the new government to satisfy basic needs of the citizens of newly independent Africa. 2. The role of women in African nationalism creation was very interesting and it predefined their position in post-colonial society. Some scientists even argue that African nationalism managed to reach its goals at the expense of women and their subordinate position. It means that the nationalists defended women’s interests in order to attract as many people as possible to their movement. It was determined that the struggle for women’s rights was held alongside the struggle for freedom of Africa. Certainly, we can’t omit the fact that the common interests of the struggle usually overshadowed the interests of women as women were initially directed on the struggle for the interests of nationalists. Notwithstanding that nationalists defended women’s interests and talked about “motherland” instead of “fatherland”, when they talked about the “fathers” of the revolution, they still talked about men. This was primarily because most of women who took part in the revolution were uneducated. However, they managed to find the connection between maternity and the fight and turned the ability to give birth into their force. This helped them to move into politics as “birth givers for all these men”. 3. State politics can be considered through the concepts of engagement and disengagement. There are four forms of political relations defined: state elite is engaged in regulation; state elite is disengaged due to the obstacles on the way to authority met by elite or elite retrenchment; ordinary citizens are engaged in political regulations; ordinary citizens are disengaged due to bad access to power. The disengagement from the state threatens the hegemony of the state. People do not trust their state and want to disengage as they feel that they can reach more without the state. They consider state policies to be inefficient and they feel themselves disenfranchised. Citizens think that the government misunderstands them. However, people can’t exist without the state, thus such a disengagement led to the formation of micro-political strategies, the main goal of which was to disengage from the political power of the state. The ideology of these political strategies was based on the defining what freedom is if to consider it separately from state security. Security is very important in the society, everybody should feel safe, but what will it turn into if the security suppresses people’s freedom? This creates misunderstanding between the society and the citizens and may lead to disengagement. 4. Every state that became independent received the opportunity to develop its culture as having the own culture is very important on the way to the full independence and prosperity. African culture was not known to other states as in colonial regime Africans were used as labor force and hadn’t much time for cultural activity. However, it was culture that helped African nationalists to reach their goals. If people do not lose their cultural identity, they will not lose their country. Speaking about African culture we can’t but mention Yoruba Opera that now represents native African theater. In the past Yoruba theater was associated with religious rituals and dances, but by now it grew into a professional theatre. Yoruba Opera served as a reflection of Africans’ wish for independence. Thinking about the African poetry we first of all recollect David Diop, a poet from West Africa, famous for his involvement in African literary movement. The future poet received his education in Senegal and started writing when he was 15. The poems by David Diop reflected his negative attitude towards colonies and the hope to see Africa independent. African feminism is deservingly considered to be an integral part of nationalist movement as the position of African women contradicted the liberal principles, which were propagated by nationalists. Feminist movement inevitably became a push for African cultural development that is crucial for every country, which wants to become independent. Read More