Indirect rule, civil society and ethnicity: the African dilemma

Abstract

This paper seeks to present an interpretation of post-independence African politics. My central argument is that sub-Saharan African countries faced a three-fold challenges in the post-independence period. These were, first, decolonizing the state; second, deracializing civil society; and third, restructuring unequal external relations of dependency. Of these, the central and critical task was that of decolonization. It was also the objective achieved with the least success. The fact goes a long way towards explaining why progress on the other two fronts, deracializing civil society and restructuring international relations, was not only incomplete but also reversible.