Europe and Africa have been linked together in evaluating the state formation process. Both regions have similarities, strengths, weaknesses, and room for improvement. To this day both regions are far from perfect. Some light can be shed on this subject, by evaluating Europe and Africa’s state formation process, evaluating what party benefits, and briefly explaining two economic consequences of European colonialism in Africa. Problems began for Africa when there was the “scramble for Africa.
Africa was extremely divided throughout the continent. There was no nation intact. Even though they were divided into colonies, they still had no sovereignty. Since they had no form of nationalism it made it impossible to succeed as a nation. This really hurt Africa economically. If they would have been able to come together as a nation they could have pulled all of their assets together and exploit them in order to make money.
By not doing this it allowed the government to exploit the people. This is why there are starving people in Africa on television. The states of Africa were created in order to make money by exporting all the various resources, whether it was slaves, minerals, or agriculture. There was much to gain by owning a chunk of land in Africa. This reason being because Africa is so rich in their resources for trade. After the race was over it left Africa severely divided.
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Africa was divided into a series of seven colonial empires. France and Britain had the biggest part of Africa, divided into four major administrative regions. The French owned most of the Northwest region, whereas the British Empire “was constructed along a north-south axis” (Schraeder 96).
Belgium and Portugal “led the second-tier empires” (Schraeder 97) and they were much smaller than Britain and France. Italy held possession of Liberia and Eritrea. Spain had the smallest of the empires, including Ceuta and Melilla.
Europe was different to Africa in their state formation process. State formation started as a result of European kings claiming greater powers and tightening their control over large territories. In the early period people were indifferent about the state to which they belonged. In Northern Europe the state was very spread out. This was due to the fact that some regions were acquired for the crown by royal marriages, and others by settlements of war or debt.
(Shively 24-25) It was not until the early nineteenth century that the state was bound by a rather large territory with stable boundaries. The invention of the modern state is given credit to Napolean. This came about by his joining “the excitement and the passions of the French Revolution to an active and efficient bureaucracy and army. This state was very powerful and conquered most of Europe. (Shively 25) To further evaluate Europe and Africa one could look at the economic consequences of European colonialism in Africa. There are several consequences to this subject.
The two that seem the most important was the transformation of individual colonies into export-oriented economies and the authoritarian legacy.” The transformation of individual colonies into export-oriented economies, in the extreme, produced one primary product desired by the European colonial power” (Schraeder 107).
The perfect example of this was the French’s efforts to “expand the cultivation of peanuts Senegal” (Schraeder 107).
Senegal increased their peanut production greatly. Two-thirds of Senegal’s rural population was involved in peanut production. The drawback to this was the fluctuation of prices for primary products. This idea really hurt the smaller colonies.
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If the colony only had one limited resource it would be a matter of time before they would go broke. It is clearly proven that a country must have various resources for export in order to make money and keep making money. (Schraeder 107) The second economic consequence was the authoritarian legacy. This legacy “permeated all aspects of economic life” (Schraeder 110).
One of the worst aspects of this was a policy of forced labor.
Forced labor was introduced so that enough workers would be on hand “to meet the need of the colonial economy” (Schraeder 110).
Various forced jobs were, working at mines, constructing roads, and tending crops. The most remembered aspect of forced jobs was in Ghana. Workers were forced to be a human train, and physically carry boxes or bundles approximately four hundred miles a month. One side effect was that the workers feet would literally wear out. For this they were fitted for special footwear, and Nike did not make it! (Schraeder 110) Europe and Africa still have room for improvement, but they seem to be heading in the right direction.
In Africa’s case, it will be years before they are an economically strong continent. Just recently Africa has made strides to become a better continent. Europe, on the other hand is in a state of unrest. Europe is still fighting to establish a system within their region.
Works Cited Peter J. Schraeder. African Politics and Society: A Mosaic in Transformation. New York: St.
Martin’s Press, 2000. W. Phillips Shively. Power and Choice: An Introduction to Political Science. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1987.
