Africa: Globalisation and the Ethical

Abstract

Any attempt to understand globalisation from the perspective of post-colonial Africa must necessarily contextualise that understanding with reference to the history of the Africa/West difference. This paper presents that history in terms of a genealogy of three successive “systems of differentiation” (Luhmann) that conceive(d) the Africa/West difference first in spatial terms (the Great Chain of Being), then in temporal terms (19th century evolutionary discourse) and more recently in the spatio-temporal terms of complex dynamical systems. The a priori assumptions of the first two systems are discussed as well as the way they still inform our thinking about Africa’s place in contemporary politics with specific reference to the “failed state” phenomenon. The chapter argues that recent developments in social theory, notably the interface between complexity and post-development theories, suggest a turn towards the ethical that invites us to fundamentally rethink the way questions of justice, ethics and community should inform our thinking about Africa in a globalised future.