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Contributions from
the Column
Media
Economic myths:
A book worth reading
Africa:
State of the debate
Second World War:
A forgotten chapter
UN reform needs to promote global governance
8-9/2005 |
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Africa:
State of the debat
Mir A. Ferdowsi (Ed.):
Afrika – ein verlorener Kontinent?
(Africa – lost continent?)
Stuttgart, UTB 2004, 382 pp.,
¤ 31.90, ISBN 3-8252-8290-2
The title may be unfortunate but the book does, in many ways, paint the differentiated picture of Africa that Ferdowsi promises in his introduction. The contributions by Stefan Mair and Rainer Tetzlaff, in particular, on home-grown moves to promote democracy, show that there are currently a lot of promising projects underway in Africa. Tetzlaff studies Zambia, Tanzania and Burkina Faso; Mair looks also at Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Ghana. All in all, the book provides an excellent overview of the current state of the Africa debate.
Nevertheless, the question remains: Do the more or less comparative, summary analyses collected here paint a true and accurate picture of the continent's situation? The main thesis of the book – that reconstruction and restoration of the state monopoly on force will be a key issue for the future of Africa – is not really controversial . But despite the finely tuned antennae of Mair, Tetzlaff and Volker Matthies (writing on peaceful conflict resolution), many of the phenomena supporting the central thesis receive only superficial examination.
It is less than adequate, for instance, to describe Nigeria as a “classic case” of state disintegration despite rich resources and to point indiscriminately to the notorious crime figures, “mounting resource conflicts” and impending ethnic and religious strife between Hausa and Yoruba. What was really needed here is a thorough analysis of the parallel edifices of state and non-state structures. What role do, for example, traditional dignitaries in northern Nigeria play? They do not only exercise de facto control over the region; they also have a major say in politics and seek to secure their interests through the implementation of Sharia law. Locally differentiated studies would not only have helped assess the conflict potential more accurately; they would also have provided the first building block for a coherent policy on human rights and democratisation. The lack of political consistency is rightly criticised by Siegmar Schmidt, who looks at the European Union, and Andreas Mehler, who profiles German policy. Valuable pieces were written by Denis M. Tull on migration and Gerhard Grohs on the African Charter’s impact on protection of human rights.
What the reader will miss in the last part of the book – where the focus turns to the “contribution of external actors” – is an analysis of US policy. Assessing the growing influence of China on many African countries would similarly have been worth some elaboration.
Uwe Kerkow
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