The concept of the post-colonial state in Africa is complex and often leads to internal conflicts. According to Susan Williams, tackling the narratives of post-colonial Africa can be overwhelming. Nigeria, in particular, has been plagued by institutionalized tyranny and authoritative irrationality. The country's crisis is not unique to Africa, but its penchant for irrational political choices sets it apart. The devolution of Scandinavia into optimally functioning organic statehoods serves as an example of a more rational, human-centered approach to managing structural complexities.
The post-colonial state is a vehicle for partisan imposition of often clashing interests of contending groups within the mechanically cobbled state. This leads to intense struggle for hegemonic ascendance, and conflict is inherent in the state's multiple instrumental character. The state is a theater of permanent struggle by all constituent nations to appropriate the totality of the political, economic, and cultural space for the partisan benefit of the dominant constituent nation. Allied groups of the contesting nations in the immediate external environment may be implicated in the confrontations to dominate the policy process.
Conflicts in the post-colonial state may result from competition over domination by internal forces and their transnational allies. The dynamics and trajectories of conflicts generated in the post-colonial state are determined by the interaction between internal and external forces. The nature of relationships elicited by the structure of the inter-state system and external environment also impacts the internal characteristics of the post-colonial state. Strategic interaction among groups is characterized by permanent competition for control of the state.
The pursuit of particularistic objectives often takes the form of competing visions of just, legitimate, and appropriate political orders. The political process becomes a rivalry among contending groups to control resources and dominate state policy, which becomes the communal agenda of competing entities within and without the post-colonial state. This dynamic generates clear security imperatives that drive the constituent groups' struggle to appropriate the state.
In the nominal democratic culture of the post-colonial state, the population structure, especially along group lines, becomes a critical indicator of the potential configuration of power between the constituent forces. Demography, each group's resources, and its capacity to organize effectively determine groups' political power. The struggle among contending forces to appropriate the state weakens it and undermines its capacity to function and protect everyone's interests.
The tensions and schisms that emanate from Nigeria's sociological construction are not unique to it, but reflect a universal experience. How societies have resolved the challenges posed by such difficult sociological constructs reflects each society's fundamental values. These values have propelled and differentiated policies underpinned by rational, lifesaving realism in human-centered systems from societies that operate on irrational, aberrant idealism and fixations.
The imperative of saving lives has defined the peaceful separation of troubled states in sophisticated societies, in contrast to the catastrophic humanitarian disasters associated with Africa. As Scandinavia's devolution from one vast state to many smaller, sovereign, prosperous states illustrates, in more sophisticated societies premised on an absolute premium on the sanctity of human life, the solution to structural disequilibrium has been organic devolution into its constituent nations.
Key points
- Irrational political choices are at the heart of Africa's internal wars.
- The post-colonial state in Africa is a sociological amalgam of diverse nations.
- Sophisticated societies prioritize human life and well-being over state longevity.
