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21 century Africa

A multi-tiered Kaleidoscope

Modern day Africa is best viewed as if looking through a multi-tiered kaleidoscope, each

tier itself made from several layers, each layer of each lens adding to the final mosaic that
is each African country.

 One tier of the multi-tiered lens formed by the legacies of the colonisation process.

e.g. The distribution pattern and the nature of the religious adherence of missionary

stations still affect modern-day Africa. Differences between Catholicism and
Protestantism and the locations of those early missionary stations provide the basis for ‘a

pattern of ‘highs and lows’ across a wide range of matters that affect today’s Africa..e.g.

differences in levels of educational attainment; the locations most likely to produce
African Elites, the incidence of HIV-Aids and much more.

The imposition of m’zungu values, not least in their perception of the role of women.

 A second tier arises from the lasting impact of colonial rule itself.

e.g. The way colonial powers viewed the economic potential for each African colony pre-

determined the sort of infrastructure development (and lack of it) that followed. All

colonial powers, bent on the most cost-effective form of exploitation, based their
administration and investment in matters (e.g. infrastructure) around their perception as

to whether this or that part of Africa was more suitable for a plantation or settler or

peasant style economy.

The failure to build the infrastructure of a ‘nation state’ before the time of African

independence created the circumstances which allowed ‘misrule’ after independence in

countries like the DRC.

Different colonial powers adopted a different approach. But the nature of colonial rule

eroded the authority of traditional African elders and chiefs. It created new divisions and

elites. Today’s Africa is riddled with divisions that have their roots in the time of colonial
rule and which, in one way or another, have an impact on African governments.

 And a third tier formed by the ‘African’ obstacles that impede the process of

development.

e.g. ‘circumstances’ that directly affect economic development (Least developed country, Low

income, Income Inequality, Landlocked, Fragile State).