Introduction
This essay will critically answer the question “to what extent and in what ways have African states ‘failed’? This will be done within a context of Political Science and will include ideas from some aspects of International Studies. To this end, there will be the need to define the concept of failed states. What makes a country a failed state? This is an important question that will define the criteria and preamble for the essay. From there, the facts of African states and their circumstances will be critiqued into a deep extent.
There are several definitions of a “failed state”. On definition put forward by Noam Chomsky states that failed states “ do not protect their citizens from violence and perhaps even destruction, or that decision makers are incapable of mobilising the right structures for governance and control”.
This definition implies that failed states lack the structures that ensures that there is the rule of law and there is order in the country. This means that failed states are unable to make the decisions they need to make in order to apply a constitution and ensure that the most fundamental institutions of government are functioning. Most writers identify four main pointers as the most basic and most fundamental elements of a failed state:
Loss of state/government control of the territory identified to be within the internationally recognised boundaries of a nation.
Loss of legitimate authority to make collective government decision;
Inability of the state to provide public services &
Inability of the state to function with other states as a recognised member of the international community
Africa as a continent is made up of 54 nations. Each nation has a territory within which it claims territorial sovereignty over. Thus, in principle, the boundaries of every country in Africa is fairly defined and recognised by international agreement. However, there are two major challenges that influence whether African states are failed or not.
The first challenge is with the fact that boundaries in Africa were fixed by agreements outside the scope of African states. Most of the boundaries of Africa as we can see today were fixed by the Berlin Conference of 1884/5. This was done by European powers and due to that, the land was demarcated on the bases of European interests in Africa with no reference to natural boundaries and historic sites of African tribes. Therefore, the boundaries were artificial and are difficult to control.
After independence, it is common to have some tribes with precolonial states and practices that are found within the geographical boundary of one African nation but might have no attachment to that nation. Due to that, establishing state control over such lands is almost impossible. An example is the case of the Ndebele ethnic group which had its traditional state in Zimbabwe and the Zulus of South Africa. The Ndebeles are Zulus but they migrated into what is now Zimbabwe. After serious economic crisis in Zimbabwe, they are moving in large numbers to South Africa and the South African government is in limited power to control areas of Ndebeles due to their assimilation into South Africa. Although South African governmental approaches exclude these Zimbabweans, they cannot be deported en masse. Hence, the government has little or no control over them in South African territory. There are also Rwandan and Ugandan rebel groups that make it difficult for the DR Congo government to control the east of the country because they spill into the country and cause military incursions.
Furthermore, there are many states that have financial challenges and cannot ensure that they decentralize their control fully to all parts of their territory. Hence, large parts of countries in Africa have little or no state intervention. This includes remote parts of countries where the state control is limited due to the lack of extending police and military services to these areas and regions. Due to this, alternative forms of governance like tribal leadership and African traditions are in vogue as opposed to governmental control and rule.
Asserting Legitimate Authority via Collective Government Decision in Africa
Every modern state has a constitution which divides power to three separate arms of government – the executive, legislature and judiciary. Each of these groups ought to be represented in one way or the other in every part of the boundaries of the country. This is done through a process of decentralization whereby a nation is divided into different parts like states, regions or provinces. Each of these units will have districts or prefectures where the three arms of government will be represented.
African nations at independence had major challenges with this. This is because colonialism was based on opportunism. The European colonisers sought to enrich themselves and take resources from Africa. So they did very little to provide governance save for the protection of their power and authority. Due to that, newly independent African nations did not have legitimate power and control over their territories. Most colonial powers allowed tribal governance to reign in remote parts of Africa. Therefore, tribal groups and communal groups provided governance in these remote parts of the country. Up till today, those tribal and traditional and religious forms of authority operate in a large part of Africa.
The fact that Africa was divided between the colonial government and the other forms of governance created two distinct sectors familiar in all parts of Africa – the formal sector and the informal sector. The formal sector in most African countries include extensions of governments that are focused on carrying out the will of the central government through decentralised systems. On the other hand, the informal sector carries out activities for the betterment of people in different parts of Africa.
It is therefore conclusive that the fact that the formal sector is limited in Africa, most African states are dysfunctional. A chunk of their activities are outsourced to other parties including traditional chieftains and religious leaders. This means that African states are generally failed and do not exert proper and complete control as might be expected of a modern state.
Furthermore, taxation in Africa is very limited. This is because the informal sector is strong and most people in the informal sector are either illiterate or carry out undocumented activities. This weakens African states because where there is an inability to collect taxes, government control is limited. This means that the traditional entities and the traditional groups are going to do the best they can with no support from the government. Thus, the informal sector takes up a chunk of the obligation of the formal state. This makes the state go into slack.
On the contrary, a functioning state has a mechanism for collecting taxes from an appreciable percentage of the population. And through that, they are able to control affairs in the country and also ensure that everyone and everything in the country works for a common good. In Africa, most people first identify themselves by their tribes because they virtually spend their time and effort within the governance structures of their tribes and the precolonial states that their ancestors founded.
The military coups and civil wars of Africa that were common in the era of the Cold War further prevented the functioning of African states. Between 1960 and 2000, almost every major African state except Senegal went through some form of armed conflict or a military coup that changed government violently. This prevented the functions of the government in these states to expand beyond the capitals of these nations. However, after 1991 when many African countries reverted to multiparty democracy and the rule of law, constitutions were built and new governments were formed that represented the people. This has caused many African nations to get governance structures that are growing and gaining roots throughout the continent.
Ability of Africa States to Provide Public Services
As outlined above, Africa came under the stray-jacket of the Cold War between 1945 and 1990. Most African states oscillated between capitalism and communism. Due to the lack of infrastructure and recent memories of the exploitation of imperialist western European colonialism, Africans were prone to adopt the Soviet-model of Communism. This is because it helped the countries to develop at a faster pace (as opposed to the traditional Capitalist system based on individual initiative). This meant that most African countries became used to systems of doing things that was based on public funding. Thus, for most African states, the best way of raising revenue to cover state expenses was to collect revenue from one product they exported. The most popular exports were food products, minerals, petroleum and others.
However, towards the 1990s when the prices of these products had fallen significantly and the population in African states grew, most countries had to seek loans and other sources of public funding. African nations like Somalia, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, DR Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Cote D’Ivoire and Mozambique have almost all their public funding from foreign donors. This is because they produce so little for the international community and raise very little funds through taxation to pay for public services. Due to this, the public services function poorly and they are not able to achieve the fundamental goals and objectives of these African states.
In Nigeria for instance, the government cannot provide electricity consistently. So most Nigerians rely on generators for electricity. Other essential utilities are generally not available in most parts of Africa due to the lack of funds. Water, roads, infrastructure and other things necessary for people to live in their home countries do not exist. Due to this, most Africans are migrating outside the continent in record numbers.
African states also fail to fund their police service adequately. Due to this, the police can do very little and crime and other social vices continue to rise in most parts of the continent. This has culminated in many problems and issues for African nations. There are major problems with anti-social behaviours in most parts of Africa. There are significant parts of African nations that are not under police control in countries like Sudan, Somalia and the DR Congo, many parts of the territory is not under effective control. Hence, events could happen that are detrimental to the nation and the state. This leads to the lack of the running and control of effective states and retards the progress of African nations as functioning states.
Ability of African States to Interact in the International Community
In terms of the international community, African states seem to have a positive image. Most African states have foreign diplomatic relations overseas or they have some kind of arrangement to maintain international relations. African states engage in the United Nations and other international bodies. The African Union is a collective voice for African states and every African state is able to do its role.
Conclusion
African nations have governments that are limited in controlling their entire territories. Many countries in Africa have remote territories that are not covered by state control. There are major limitations of African governments in controlling the informal sector of Africa which happens to be large. Also, the public sector of African nations are generally limited due to the lack of funds. Many African governments cannot generate money through taxation or through foreign exchange. They therefore have to rely on aid which make them unable to provide what a nation should provide for its citizens. Moreover, African nations have to use the little they can get from foreign aid to run the most vital aspects of their state institutions. This means that many things are poorly ran. In spite of this, many African countries got democratised after the early 1990s. They are on a steady path towards decentralisation and economic growth. And it is apparent that African nations will become self-sufficient and failed states would be strengthened soon.
References
Acemoglu, D. & Robinson, J., 2015. Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty. 2nd ed. New York: Crown Publishers.
Chomsky, N., 2012. Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy. 2nd ed. New York: MacMillan Publishing.
Grieco, M., 2013. Failed and Failing States: The Challenges to African Reconstruction. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholarly Press.
Mazrui, A. & Wondji, C., 1994. General History of Africa VIII: Africa Since 1935. Ibadan: Heinemann Publishing.
Rotberg, R. I., 2013. Failed States in a World of Terror. 4th ed. New York: Foreign Affairs Press.
