RETREAT FROM AFRICA CONTINENTS MOMENTUM FOR CHANGE STALLS THE WINDS of change that blew across Africa at the end of the Cold War have stalled. Economic reforms that promised to bring back foreign capital investment have thus far only deepened Africas dependency on foreign aid. The pace of political transition that saw no less than nine leaders toppled by gun or ballot in the nine months following the fall of 1990 has slowed to a crawl, as many incumbent regimes have managed to maintain military control while outmaneuvering splintered oppositions. But the greatest failure of reform-both economic and political-may be that it is overwhelmingly urban, while Africa is not. Structural adjustment programs have succeeded in getting import prices right, but fertilizer, for instance, is now beyond the reach of the average farmer. In most countries the creation of new political parties has not directly involved those outside the existing urban political class and has neglected the majority rural poor. Moreover, many of the most prominent new-breed politicians are simply refashioned opportunists of Cold War vintage. Thus while a majority of the one-party systems that dominated Africas landscape since independence have collapsed under a combination of internal and external economic and political pressures, the narrow concentration of power within most states remains unchanged.
Posted on: Wed, 27 Aug 2014 21:57:06 +0000
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