European Union and its challenges

 

Topic- Political and economic challenges of nation building in Africa

Nation-building is a long and challenging political process which requires constant and serious efforts both at leadership level and at the level of Citizens. Most nations have their unique circumstances and each one, throughout history, has built and developed itself around certain distinguishing core features.

The process of nation-building can only be internally generated and led. It cannot be achieved from the outside though initiatives and lessons can be learnt from outside world too.

The first of these processes has always been the conscious cultivation of a national identity, the sense of belonging, based on shared values, tradition, history and aspirations. The second is the establishment of institutions and laws of governance which formalise the relationship between the leaders and citizens, and their expectation of service delivery. The third feature is the participation of citizens in the governance process by choosing a system that serves them best, selecting their leaders and playing an active role in decision making. Then there is economic transformation, it is only right for the people to expect a qualitative improvement in their lives. Part of nation-building, therefore, includes establishing the climate and mechanisms for economic development for the whole nation.

Since the early 1990s, most of sub-Saharan Africa’s 48 countries have undergone major political and social changes. People across the continent were engaging in classic expressions of opposition to authoritarianism such as popular uprisings and civil disobedience, as well as exploring new forms in the collective quest for liberty.

 Single-party regimes found themselves forced to permit multiparty competition, constitutions and election laws were redesigned, and competitive elections of one sort or another went forward. Yet  years after these historic events, the net results of the “third wave” of democratization in Africa remain unclear.

 Most close observers agree that some countries have performed quite well. Besides Botswana and Mauritius, which have been continuously democratic since independence in the 1960s, Benin, Eritrea, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and even Mali seem to be following a “progressive” path to democratic transition. Still, many caveats remain. Promises to give power to the people, to make new political and social institutions more effective, and to organize more balanced and stable systems of government have mostly been slow to be fulfilled.

For a country coming out of conflict, the first priority should be one of stabilisation and security, which requires strong internal political leadership, systems and institutions. In essence, this is a precondition for successful nation-building. There is need for restoration of order, peace and stability for the building to happen. The nations in continent are plagued with multiple issues leading to instability and unrest. As a result of leadership woes, abject poverty, corruption, civil wars, etc, Africa is being describe as the ‘dark continent’. Some of the political and Economic challenges which lie ahead of Africa can be discussed as-

The Political Challenges

1.       Leadership Crisis

In the Central African Republic, Congo and Niger, democratically elected presidents have failed to meet the challenges of tolerance and creativity that are the hallmarks of true leadership, and have faced civil strife or military coups. Africa has seen its freedom heroes turn into dictators, while plunder of natural resources, politics of exclusion and deprivation to tilt the balance of power continues to dominate the public sphere. It can therefore be argued that from the very start, leadership problem crept into the new states, as the new African leadership became the neocolonialists, while the liberators turned into oppressors of their own people.

Contemporary African leaders are characterized with military and dictatorial rule, undemocratic and massive bureaucratic corruption. These challenges are real and serious and thus should be a concern for policy makers

2.       Authoritarianism

 In Benin and Madagascar, old authoritarian rulers have returned to power through the ballot box, carried by rising discontent at the painful economic “shock therapy” implemented by the first freely elected governments and aided by the new leaders’ poor political skills. In Cameroon, Kenya, and Togo, former authoritarian rulers have been able to retain power by circumventing the new rules of the game and keeping a grip on military power and the public.

Corruption epidemic in African countries owes its existence to the long term tenure of their dictators. Examples of past dictators with long tenure include Ethiopia’s Emperor Haile Selassie (44 years), Gabon’s Omar Odimba Bongo (42 years), Libya’s Moammar Gaddafi (42 years), Togo’s Gnassingbé Eyadéma (37 years), and Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak (31 years).

The crisis of leadership has bedeviled Africa to unclear ideology, frequent changes of government, and civil wars.

3.       Non-Democratization

 In Nigeria and Sudan, the so-called democratization process has run into so much trouble that it is almost impossible to define the path that these countries are now following. Indeed, these numerous setbacks—joined by the protracted decline and fall of the Successful regimes in Zaire—have reinforced the belief that it is hard, if not impossible, to persuade Africa’s authoritarian leaders to accept democratic rules.

4.       Weak political Parties

In theory, political parties constitute the mechanism par excellence of democratic transition. According to political scientists, a modern party must meet four criteria. These are continuity (that is, a life span exceeding the dominance of the party’s founders), a nationwide organization, the desire to exercise power, and consistent efforts to garner significant popular support.  Many African political organizations do not even meet the first criterion.

Quite often, a political party south of the Sahara is little more than a platform for a single individual, a structure whose rules can readily be changed to suit its founder, whose charisma and money are its main engines. As the vehicle of its leader, the party’s life expectancy and prospects are tied to its founder’s fate. Its program will often be limited in scope, and may not show much philosophical consistency. African parties also often fall short of the mark on the second count. Not many of the continent’s countries have political organizations with broad national bases. Very often, parties are tied to the home regions of their leaders.

Many Africans, especially those tired of military dictatorships and faltering economies, and politicians out of power and in exile, applaud these prescriptions. Nevertheless, they wisely or cynically refrain from defining the criteria for their own political culture. The result is that both

5.       International interests

International influences, includes foreign policies and the diffusion effect which oftentimes adversely impact upon stability of African countries.

Geo-political and economic interests of the international community constantly play a significant role in undermining the very processes and institutions that are expected to nurture democracy and to instill a sense of stability for societal development in Africa. This threat is however not emanating from within the continent but from external interests whose thirst for African resources, continue to shape the dynamics in areas related to governance

6.       Lack of efficient State Institutions

Also problematic in the African context are the existing institutions of the state and how they function. Despite the existence of institutional frameworks that are supposed to guide processes and delivery on essential services, the continued weakening of these institutions, through political mechanisation and predatory nature of African elites, working in cohorts with external interests also contributes further to the undermining of stability in Africa. These tendencies exacerbate resources wars, ethnic rivalry, and more recently, the emergence of electoral violence as a characteristic of multi-party era elections in African.

Another predicament of the continent of Africa is poor institutional structures which is often blame on bureaucracy. The principle of checks and balance remains an abstract idea which left leaders to treat their nations as their own property. This has further weakened bureaucratic institutions for proper accountability and hence massive corruption at top level.

Bureaucratic and political accountability can only be effective in a democratic state. Institutions such as judiciary, court and other watchdog bodies need to be free from political control of the executive. Corruption is eating the fabric of African society and has degraded the continent to poverty, inequality, and underdevelopment.

7.       Political Instability

Political instability in Africa may owe much of its cause to internal factors, however the interpenetration of internal and external factors especially geo-political and economic interests of the international community constantly play a significant role in undermining the very processes and institutions that are expected to nurture democracy and to instill a sense of stability for societal development in Africa. This threat is however not emanating from within the continent but from external interests whose thirst for African resources, continue to shape the dynamics in areas related to governance.

The constitutional frameworks and state institutions have been tampered with, in order to create an uneven play field against the opposition. Some of these processes have seen sporadic violence during electioneering periods, leading to political instability.

8.       A colonial legacy

The post-colonial Governments “sought national unity through the centralization of political and economic power, employing vestigial colonial laws and institutions to stifle and suppress pluralism.

For over sixty years of post-colonial rule, nation-building in most African countries has been an up-hill task as a result of the disruption and fragmentation of the societies caused by the former colonialists. There is no doubt that colonialism created some conditions that made it difficult for newly independent African countries to function as proper nation states and the ramifications are still felt today.

9.       Presence of outdated constitutional provisions

The post-colonial Governments, sought national unity through the centralization of political and economic power, employing vestigial colonial laws and institutions to stifle and suppress pluralism. The constitutions that were bequeathed to the newly independent states were the products of protracted negotiations in western capitals, whose outcomes were in most cases favourable to the departing colonial powers.

10.   Lack of free and fair elections

During the onset of multi-party democracy in the so called third wave of democratisation, most regimes in Africa did not fully embrace the changes that accompanied the transition. Many autocratic regimes, for instance accepted multi-party democracy out of western donor pressure and agitation for change by local civil society.

With many countries holding their third or fourth multi-party elections, internal power struggles have taken a violent dimension, thereby threatening the very existence of many countries. Since the onset of multi-party democracy in most African countries electoral processes have been accompanied by political violence, as part of the democratisation process.

 Most violence in such cases are often state sponsored, to the advantage of the incumbent, while various groups that struggle for state power also deploy hired violence, in the form of informal groups, militias and gangs.

11.   Power-sharing arrangement

The preservation of some countries affected by violence has motivated the international community to act quickly to stop these countries from sliding into an all out civil war the measures adopted, especially the recent trend of prescribing a power-sharing arrangement between a winning opposition candidate and an incumbent electoral thieving president as was the case in Kenya and now in Zimbabwe, fails to address the fundamental issues around political stability in Africa.

Even if power sharing as a formula is the most expedient response in post-electoral violence situations, for instance, these deals also fall short of addressing the very factors that underpinned the post-election violence, namely, the decades of political and economic marginalisation.

12.   Migration

The issue of political instability in Africa is also directly related to the migration and development question. The life threatening political and economic conditions in Africa contribute enormously to the massive exodus of both highly qualified and lowly educated populations in Africa. These include such factors as civil conflicts, bad governance and poor economic conditions. Many people are on the move as asylum seekers or refuges in a number of countries. They are escaping from civil wars, and oppressive regimes working in cohort with external special interests, especially in countries endowed with natural resources.

The UN Economic Commission for Africa has estimated that between 1960 and 1975 an estimated 27,000 highly qualified Africans left the continent for the West. According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), there are 100,000 skilled Africans living and working in the EU and North America.  This number is increasing every year and therefore impeding potential economic growth, and remains a handicap for sustainable development in many countries in Africa.

13.   Violence and Genocide

A lack of equal distribution would be detrimental to the democratization process as the struggle for scarce resources and hegemony of one group would ensue. In the absence of such guarantees, people become vulnerable and feel insecure in their immediate surroundings and with constant power struggles, range from genocide to torture and other in humane treatment by rogue regimes, large sections of African populations have become refugees within the continent and abroad.

9 Active armed conflicts in 2017 (in all of Africa) plus another 7 post-conflict and potential conflict situations rose in. These events point to extreme state fragility and a loss of sovereign control over violence in the 11 affected countries, led by Nigeria, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic (CAR). One-sided violence against unarmed civilians has also spiked up since 2011.

The collapse of Libya after 2011, spreading large quantities of arms and trained fighters across the broader Sahel region, the proliferation of local IS or Al Qaeda franchises in remote, under-governed spaces also causing the violence in the regions. Not surprisingly, incumbent leaders facing these challenges look to short-term military remedies and extend a welcome to military partners.

The link between conflict and governance is a two-way street. Security challenges can impose tough choices on governments that may act in ways that compound the problem, opening the door to heightened risks of corruption and the slippery slope of working with criminal entities. On the other hand, weak or destructive governance is sometimes the source of conflicts in the first place. This can happen in several ways.

A second conflict pattern can develop along the lines of ethnic cleavages which can be readily politicized and then militarized into outright ethnic violence. The challenge facing Africa’s leaders is how to govern under conditions of ethnic diversity.

14.   The state-society gap

Cold War geopolitics reinforced in some ways the state-society gap as the global rivalry tended to favor African incumbents and frequently assured they would receive significant assistance from external powers seeking to build diplomatic ties with the new states. This situation supported an external orientation in African politics in which Cold War reference points and former colonial relationships assured that African governments often developed only a limited sense of connection to their own societies. 

Africans define themselves in terms of multiple identities including regional, tribal, clan-based, and religious ones—in addition to being citizens of a relatively new state.

 The state-society gap lies at the heart of the problems faced by many states. Governments that rely on foreign counterparts and foreign investment in natural resources for a major portion of their budgets—rather than on domestic taxation—are likely to have weaker connections to citizens and domestic social groups. This adds to the challenge of building national identities. This ‘identity vacuum’ increases the risk that political elites and social groups will capture the state for narrower, self-interested purposes that weaken, rather than strengthen, social cohesion.

15.   Ethnicity

When conflicts evolve along ethnic lines, they are readily labelled ‘ethnic conflict’ as if ‘caused’ by ancient hatreds. In reality, it is more often caused by bad governance and by political entrepreneurs. Poor leadership can result in acts of commission or omission that alienate or disenfranchise geographically distinct communities.

Still another form of legitimacy in Africa sometimes derives from traditional political systems based on some form of kingship. Long-standing kingdoms such as those in Morocco and Swaziland are recognized national states.

The numerous problems which have been bedeviling African states also includes ethnic and communal clashes, increasing crime wave, drug trafficking, advanced fee fraud etc, have been blamed on ineffective leadership. The Rwandan genocide, civil wars in Sierra Leone, Liberia etc, is a clear testimony of the aforementioned claim.

16.   Lack of good governance

Underlying the litany of Africa’s development problems is a crisis of good governance. By governance is meant the exercise of political power to manage a nation's affairs. In self-defense, individuals have built up personal networks of influence rather than hold the all powerful state accountable for its systemic failure. In this way, politics becomes personalized and patronage becomes essential to maintain power. The leadership assumes broad discretionary authority and loses its legitimacy, information is controlled, and voluntary associations are co-opted or disbanded.

The World Bank, IMF, and other international development donors view Africa’s inability to attain high level development partly due to it records of bad governance. Good governance is a means to achieve socio-economic development especially in Africa where there is high influx of foreign aid with little result to show for it. The World Bank indicators of good governance encompassing democracy, transparency and accountability, it may be said that, the whole idea of good governance is that of a participative system in which those who are called upon to govern on behalf of the people are motivated with a will to giving their best, serving and doing good to the people, solving their problems and making their lives more liveable, satisfying and enjoyable.

The Economic Challenges

1.       Indirect International Interference

The existing economic conditions based on western policy prescriptions also play a significant role in the deprivation of African populations, of the essential services, which are keys to development. It is the western based financial institutions whose interference through conditionality and economic policy prescriptions, contribute to the instability in Africa.

International influences, which includes foreign policies and the diffusion effect which oftentimes adversely impact upon stability of African countries. For decades, western companies involved in extraction in Africa have never declined in numbers nor have their profits plummeted.

The African elites, who are bent on hanging to power at all cost and for the purpose of primitive accumulation, have perfected the art of political expediency even when these acts threaten the stability of their countries. But in all these cases, there is always a hidden hand of external interests, who would like to retain the status quo or where they support political change, and then their choice of preference is always contradictory to the wish to the people.

For instance while many countries took a tough stand on Moi regime in 1980s and early 1990s, Britain did not take a strong stand against Moi’s regime, due to their interests in Kenya. Britain had an investment worth $1billion in Kenya. In this case the safety of their investments and profits was enough justification to accept the Moi regime after flawed elections in 1992 and 1997.

2.       High debt to GDP Ratio

Nearly 40% of sub-Saharan African countries are at risk of slipping into a major debt crisis. The region’s aggregate debt-to-GDP ratio rose to 46% in 2017, up from from 23% in 2008. As debt levels increase, so does the pressure of servicing the debt; money that could be invested in society goes to repaying loans.

The economic policies in the form of Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) packages entailed sweeping economic and social changes designed to siphon the indebted country’s resources and productive capacity into debt payments and to enhance international (TNCs) competition.

The consequence of these economic conditions in Africa has obviously had serious ramifications for essential services such as health, education and infrastructure. Cuts in public expenditure under SAPs led to a drastic decline in control and prevention measures against diseases such as cholera, yellow fever and malaria that were once under control while new diseases remain a big challenge. The accumulative and exploitative tendencies along with demographic and multifarious other pressures, greatly increased government indebtedness and reinforced a spiral of decline in the delivery of public services and of the economy.

3.       Western  Policy influence

The existing economic conditions based on western policy prescriptions also play a significant role in the deprivation of African populations, of the essential services, which are keys to development.

Privatisation of public enterprises and downsizing of the civil services 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.

Such bad governance practices and loopholes for plunder of public funds, demands an extensive regulatory system of contract rules and an effective legal supervision of their observation. As long as these mechanism are being flouted in Africa, the markets even though touted as the solution to economic development problems, has still shown its failures due to misuse of power in relationships.

4.       Corruption

Transparency International (TI) estimates that corruption in Africa siphons off 20 to 30 percent of funding from basic service provision.

Political corruption is one the issues that African governments are facing and it has retarded growth in many African nations. Corruption is injustice and a threat to sustainable development. Political corruption is any transaction between private

Political corruption has not only undermined bureaucratic institutions in Africa but also administrative and economic development. For example, since independence in 1960 to 2010, Nigeria has reportedly lost $500 billion to corruption. Again, the ex-petroleum minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, between 2010 and 2015 Mrs. Alison-Madueke was involved in a bribery and money laundering scandal. It was alleged that $20 billion of oil money had gone missing when she was in office.

 The argument of this paper is that, corruption is one of the causes of Africa’s underdevelopment. There have been reports of substantial cases of embezzlement of public funds and capital flight by some African president and politician alike.

Political corruption does not only lead to misallocation of resources, but it also affects the manner in which decisions are made. Political corruption is the manipulation of the political institutions and the rules of procedure, and therefore it influences the institutions of government and the political system, and it frequently leads to institutional decay as the ones in Africa. It also weakens the legitimacy of accountability of many African governments.

5.       Unequal distribution of resources

The market outcome of the allocation of resources especially in Africa is socially unacceptable. They cause massive deprivation and inequalities, marginalisation and in some cases, trigger interethnic conflicts, as various groups struggle for scarce state resources. Again, this is more common in countries less endowed with natural resources while in those cases with natural resources, regional conflagrations emerge as different parts of the country compete or lay claim to such resources.

6.       Brain Drain

The hostile political environment have consequently contributed to the exodus of many highly qualified persons, a further contributing factors the problem of brain drain but also the exodus of their next of kin, or general refugee migration as part of populations seeking safety in foreign lands including Europe and North America.

However the degree of violence and the manner in which they are perpetrated vary from country to country as the recent elections in Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya and Zimbabwe can show.

The brutality with which African leaders impose their authority on their people, continue to drive many people into exile. As a result of the conflicts, bad governance and poor economic condition, large numbers flee their countries, a factor that is currently shaping the migration debate, especially in the western countries, but also in Africa with regards to brain drain.

7.        Unemployment and underemployment

The unemployment and underemployment are the most pressing concerns. Unemployment in sub-Saharan Africa stands at around 6%, according to the International Labour Organization. But most of the work available is unskilled or low-skilled, in part because the region has the world’s lowest levels of access to higher education.

So, although many Africans are employed, 70% of sub-Saharan Africa’s workforce is vulnerable. The global average for vulnerable occupations is 46%.

8.       Political change

"Failure of national governance" is a leading risk to business, according to executives in sub-Saharan Africa. Since the beginning of 2015, Africa has experienced more than 27 leadership changes, Which highlights the continent-wide push for greater accountability and democracy.

9.       Climate change

Nine out of the ten countries in the world most vulnerable to climate change are in sub-Saharan Africa. The region has at least 10 vulnerable coastal cities with a population of more than 1 million people, including Accra, Dakar, Durban and Lagos.

Africa is expected to be one of the continents hardest hit by climate change, with increasing extreme weather events threatening the health of its people and economies. At the same time, mass-migration as a result of flooding or droughts could put resources such as food, water and housing under pressure in areas less affected.

10.   Lack of efficient banking system

The country, like many other African nations lacks a world-class infrastructure, and it has a fragile banking sector.

11.   Heavy dependency on Natural resources

Africa is largely dependent on natural resources to achieve growth and development. But the absence of efficient Infrastructure and good policies makes it vulnerable to depend heavily on them. However, the realization of these goals may be hindered by the impact of climate change. Notwithstanding its low greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, it is the continent that will be most affected by climate change mainly due to low adaptive capacity.

Conclusion

Key to the process of stability and peace is strengthening Africa’s institutions that promote democracy and accountability with an input from the local perspectives. The potential also lies in the heterogeneous nature of Diaspora and the important humanitarian function of remittances, civic oriented activities, political involvement, advocacy and lobbying.

Vibrant economic policies alongside with democratic policies that are based on African norms and values could lead to socio-economic development in Africa. There are too many state deficiencies in Africa and therefore civil society needs to develop in order to fill the void created by government. Civil society organization plays a vital role in addressing Africa’s most pressing development challenges.

A term limit for all member states through dialogue, and that no president should rule more than two terms. African governments need to invest more into education especially in the fields of science and technology. Studies have proven that democracy and e-Government are likely to succeed in countries with high level of literacy. Above all, the development of the educational system is the surest path to Africa’s development.