Introduction: Change and Continuity in Contemporary Africa

Abstract

The optimism that characterized the African struggle for independence between 1945 and 1960 quickly dissipated once the statesmen of the continent’s respective nations realized how many unsettling issues and challenges created during the period of European colonial rule needed to be addressed. Fifty years after independence, African nations still find it difficult to establish meaningful, democratic governing institutions that could permanently eradicate graft, unwarranted patronage, and corruption; to configure self-reliant economies capable of redressing the poverty gap and cater to the developmental needs of the people of the continent; and to establish concrete social structures centered on the advancement of gender equality, protection of women’s rights, and promotion of education and health care. Because colonial authorities only paid lip service to these and other socioeconomic issues, African statesmen inherited a continent marred by a litany of almost unmanageable challenges. Their inability to deal with so many problems at once is symptomatic of the dysfunction that continues to afflict these new nations to this day. The challenges are even tougher because personal differences and ethnic cleavages created during colonial rule have produced many disputes and stifled inter- and intrastate dialogue.