Conclusion

Abstract

The dawning of the post-cold war era in Africa has inspired new visions of political and economic renewal unmatched since the first years of independence. Unlike those first years of independence, people now realize that the path to these visions may be tortuous. Campaigns for democratization in much of the continent have energized African peoples perhaps as profoundly as did the nationalist movements a generation ago when it became apparent that political independence was within their reach. Similarly, the popular belief, pervasive during the 1990s, that democratization holds the key to elu;sive economic and social progress recalls the nationalist credo that political independence would bring Africa deliverance from decades of colonial socioeconomic oppression. Only a few years after most of Africa gained independence from colonial rule, the nationalist vision began to fade. African peoples sought the causes for nationalism’s decline and poor performance in the political and economic structure of the cold war into which independence had delivered them. Similarly, warning signs in the mid-1990s, when movements for democratization were still in their infancy suggested that political and economic renewal may also dissipate in the face of new and unforeseen obstacles. And once again, both African peoples and scholars ofdevelopment may look for causes not only in the domestic sphere but also in the evolving contours of the international political and economic order.

There is tremendous suffering, not only physically but also psychologically that while people in other societies are making progress, Africa is going backwards. Therefore we must ensure that as we pursue democracy, we also pursue the goals of development. And what Africa needs in that regard is not [structural] adjustment, it is fundamental restructuring and transformation of African economies … The donor countries that are encouraging Africans to take the democratic path are also the countries that are encouraging Africans to adopt economic policies that alienate the people, that make development extremely difficult because of their misunderstanding of the nature and causes of Africa’s economic crisis.

Adebayo Adedeji, NEPAD Forum 2002.