Paper Topic:

Write a detailed essay on econmic history of African States in the post-colonial period?

Running head : POST COLONIAL AFRICAN ECONOMIC HISTORY

Name

Institution

Introduction

At independence most of the economic power was held by the former colonialists and Asian communities in countries like Uganda and Kenya As part of the pre independence promises the nationalists made was that they would place the economy in the hands of local people . What followed the raising of the new flag was a systematic africanization of the economy . In some countries this took the form of nationalization of private enterprises . Thus for example in Tanzania Julius nyerere

instituted his brand of African socialism called Ujamaa

Governments keen to assert their sovereignty resorted to policies that would break their dependency on imports . A number of import substitution based companies were set up to address this issue and foreign direct investment greatly encouraged . Multinationals like Unilever and Lonrho took up the invitation and invested heavily in African countries

Aid became a major component of African budgets as Cold War protagonists sought to curry favor with the ruling elite . By supporting nations financially , the USA and USSR hoped to spread their spheres of influence . This policy was counterproductive to the African economies as the elite squandered the aid on grandiose projects or simply pocketed the money

In the early 1980 's , the donor community realized that African economies were not performing well . With the backing of the World Bank and the IMF , African countries were forced to restructure their economies by adopting structural adjustment policies (SAP 's Privatization of state monopolies and the removal of price controls were the main factors . However , these policies largely failed as they forced weak economies to open up their markets to international competition and in the process caused the collapse of local industries that could not compete with the established ones

After the collapse of the Cold War 'trade not aid ' became the new focus of western nations . African countries were encouraged to produce for export . The problem with this policy is that the trade pacts are heavily tilted in favor of developed countries . Currently there is a stalemate over the World Trade Organization 's rules and regulations African , Pacific and Caribbean nations are beginning to assert their power and demand the right to develop their economies without outside interference . Post Colonial African Economic History PAGE \ MERGEFORMAT 1...

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