Political Underdevelopment in Africa - Essay Example

 Political Underdevelopment in Africa Abstract This paper discusses the relationship between social, economic and political underdevelopment in Africa. In this case, the paper relates the main social issues of education and colonization, in its social perspective, to underdevelopment. On the other hand, the paper discusses the relationship of the key economic issue of corruption with political underdevelopment in Africa. Finally, the paper addresses the most useful measures of political development such as democratization, participatory politics, and national identity. Keywords: Africa, Democratization, political underdevelopment Introduction There are daunting challenges currently facing the continent of Africa. The continent experiences the highest proportion of its population living in conditions characterized by extreme poverty. As a result, Food 4 Africa (n.d.) notes that, the continent has not met any of the global United Nations goals agreed upon in 2000 called the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). As a result, millions of Africans live in extreme poverty and go hungry each passing day. This is a sign of poverty and its root causes are political underdevelopment that results to poor leadership and governance structures. Besides, the levels of illiteracy in the continent of Africa are the highest. This is a result of failure to achieve the MDG on free universal primary education for all with the number of school going children not attending school being the highest in this world (Food 4 Africa, n.d.). In addition, the African continent witnesses most of the world’s conflicts arising from political underdevelopment and unequal distribution of resources. Therefore, despite the growing interaction of societies and economics of the world, Africa witnesses political underdevelopment in comparison to the other continents. This expose discusses the relationship between social, economic and political underdevelopment in Africa. In addition, the paper elucidates on the most useful measures of determining political development. Social Issues Education is one of the social issues heavily contributing to political underdevelopment in the African continent. However, this issue affects politics in two different ways with the first one being a result of a large uneducated mass while the other one resulting to migration of educated elites to other nations. According to Food 4 Africa (n.d.), the African continent has failed in the achievement of the MDG on universal primary education. As a result, Food 4 Africa (n.d.) notes that the “number of girls out of school in Africa is the highest in the world (23m).” In this case, this uneducated population is not aware of even of their most basic of human rights and as a result, they fail to demand and agitate for good governance in most of these African countries. Conversely, the educated Africans who leave their countries of birth to seek employment opportunities in other adopted countries result to a problem referred as brain drain. This problem affects Africa most since the best minds do not work towards the objective of developing their countries. Indeed, the Economic Commission for Africa [ECA] (2000) estimated that 27,000 highly qualified Africans left Africa for Western countries between 1960 and 1975. On the other hand, the International Organization for Migration (2003) notes that, more than 100,000 qualified Africans lived and worked in countries within the European Union and North America with the number set to rise each year (as cited in Ndiaye, Melde, & Ndiaye-Coïc, n.d.). In this case, these skilled and qualified Africans leave their countries of birth and fail to participate in the demand for good governance and ultimately lead to political underdevelopment in the continent. Colonization is another social issue, although with a political aspect in it, that influences political underdevelopment in the continent. Although none of the countries in the African continent remains a colony of any western power, the structures of governance left by the colonizers during independence of countries in Africa were weak enough to ensure that the new leaders perpetuated neo-colonialism. Indeed as noted by Annan (2008), the new governments “sought national unity through the centralization of political and economic power, employing vestigial colonial laws and institutions to stifle and suppress pluralism.” In effect, the continued neo-colonialism results to poor governance and has hence ensured that Africa remained underdeveloped in terms of its politics. Economic Issues Certain general characteristics drive to the general conclusion that countries in Africa have weak economies. Using common knowledge, these characteristics include extremely weak Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in most African countries coupled with a decrease in levels of exports in terms of agricultural and other products produced in Africa. It is crucial to note that the decreasing level of export of production is a failure to invest in modern technology crucial for production. However, the biggest economic issue in the continent today is about the growing national debt in African countries, which ultimately enhances the growth of the gap between the rich and the poor. All these features of weak economies have a relationship to political underdevelopment in the continent. For example, corruption is one of the key economic issues with a direct relationship to political underdevelopment in Africa. According to the Transparency International’s (TI) Corruption Perception Index of 2010, African countries ranked between 1 and 5 in the index with the scale of measurement starting at 0 for highly corrupt countries, to 10 representing very clean countries or corrupt-free countries (TI, 2010). It is crucial to point out that corruption is multifaceted. On one hand, failed political leadership in Africa has resulted to failure to allocate the available resources equally and equitably due to corruption. As a result, conflicts have risen with some continuing for longer periods without signs of ending. On the other hand, the other aspect of corruption relates to forced policies in Africa when receiving financial aid. Policies related to downsizing of public sectors in African governments and privatization of state corporations were avenues of corruption perpetuated by western powers. As noted by Hawley (2000), these two policies have “engendered the spread of corruption as multinationals supported by Western governments and their agencies continue to engage in corruption on a vast scale in North and South alike.” All these have a relationship to political underdevelopment since the policies from western governments for aid are a result of a lack of power to negotiate from the African leaders. Measures of Political Development One of the useful measures of political development is participation of every person in the society. In this case, a politically developed society moves from the traditional set-up characterized by non-participation and isolation of communities and politics of kinship. In this regard, a politically developed society views all members of the society, especially the ordinary man, as a relevant player and participant in the political system of the society. Therefore, large proportions of people, which previously did not participate in the political systems of a society, become important and play a very relevant political role in the same society. Thus, a citizen becomes involved in state activities, making important decisions, and living with the consequences of the decisions they made. Another useful measure of political development is through the democratization of a particular society. In this regard, democratization aspects include ensuring a state of competitive politics by ensuring that there existed a level playing field for every member of the society. In addition to competitiveness, another aspect of democratization involves enhancing pluralism or ensuring multiparty politics played centre-stage in a society. Finally, this measure of political development involved the political aspect of distribution of power according to the structures of leadership laid out in a society. Finally, another measure of political development is the level of nationalism or national integration of each member of in a nation. In this regard, politically underdeveloped nations have the attributes of a crisis in terms of national identity. Thus, the population in the particular country have nothing that brings them together and makes them identify with each other and more so with their country. Conversely, a politically developed nation has the basic feature of national building with all citizens identifying with the country and each other for this common goal of national building. Conclusion From the foregoing, it is evident that the continent of Africa is one, if not the most, of the politically underdeveloped continent in the world. Various social issues have a relationship with the issue of political underdevelopment in Africa. Case in point, low education levels have a connection to political underdevelopment in the continent. In this case, low levels of education meant that the uneducated majority had no knowledge of their rights and hence failed to agitate for good leadership. On the other hand, some educated and skilled Africans moved to find employment opportunities to other nations and leaving their countries instead of developing them. In addition to social issues, there was a relationship between political underdevelopment and certain economic issues. Case in point, corruption was the key issue that had a close relationship with political underdevelopment. However, it is crucial to note that western policies aided corruption in Africa. Finally, the most useful measures of political development are participation of all members of the society, democratization of the society, and the availability of a national identity or sense of nationality. References Annan, K. (2007). From Ghana @50 Golden Jubilee. Championing Africa’s Renaissance: Peace, Development, and Human Rights. Retrieved from http://www.ghana50.gov.gh/ghana50/index.php Economic Commission for Africa [ECA]. (2000). The Regional Conference on Brain Drain and Capacity Building in Africa. Retrieved from http://www.uneca.org/eca_resources/press_releases/2000_pressreleases/pressrelease0120 00_eng.htm Food 4 Africa. (n.d.). What are the major challenges facing Africa today? Retrieved from http://www.food4africa.org/index.asp?pgid=45 Hawley, S. (2000). Exporting Corruption: Privatisation, Multinationals and Bribery. Retrieved from http://www.thecornerhouse.org.uk/resource/exporting-corruption-0 Ndiaye, N., Melde, S., & Ndiaye-Coïc, R. (n.d.). The Migration for Development in Africa Experience and Beyond. Retrieved from http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTDECPROSPECTS/Resources/476882- 1157133580628/DfD_ch08.pdf Transparency International. (2010). Corruption Perception Index. Retrieved from http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2010/results Read More