1. The Postcolonial State in Africa: Fifty Years of Independence, 1960-2010, Crawford Young
- Author:
- Gretchen Bauer
- Publication Date:
- 02-2014
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Political Science Quarterly
- Institution:
- Academy of Political Science
- Abstract:
- To use one of Crawford Young's favorite words, his latest book, is "masterful." The Postcolonial State in Africa: Fifty Years of Independence, 1960-2010 provides a rare retrospective on the first 50 years of African independence from one whose own distinguished career in teaching and learning African politics coincided completely with those years. The book's stated aim is to capture the unfolding dynamic of African politics across five decades. Young suggests striking similarities in the trajectories of many African states between independence and the early 1990s, followed by "itineraries [that have] diverged sharply" since, resulting in a range of outcomes (p. 8). Overall, Young identifies three cycles in the first 50 years of independence, fluctuating between "high optimism, even euphoria, followed by disappointment, even a despairing 'Afropessimism,' in the first two and a mingling of hope, even audacious, and skeptical uncertainty in the current stage, reflecting sharply divergent itineraries" (p. 9). The cycles of hope and disappointment are elaborated in Part Two of the book in chapters on decolonization, independence, and the colonial legacy; the road to autocracy; state crisis; and democratization and its limits. Young is in his prime in his thematic chapter in Part Three on Africanism, nationalism, and ethnicity and the critical roles they have played in defining the political itineraries of African states. The book is refreshing in its steadfast treatment of the entire African continent, not just sub-Saharan Africa, as is usually the case in our discussions of "African" politics.
- Topic:
- Nationalism
- Political Geography:
- Africa