Effectiveness of decolonisation across Africa, within a context of sustainable development.
Case study: Analysing the effectiveness of decolonisation across Africa with a focus on Françafrique.
Prelude
The mid-1950s to late 1975s saw the revolutionary decolonisation movement across Africa where colonial powers started to hand over control to colonies aspiring for national independence, (Murphy, 1995). This new geo-political reconfiguration was largly the result of the Atlantic Charter signed in January 1942 by the United States and the United Kingdom outlining their objectives for the post-world war era. The new global direction, at the time, made the basis for the United Nations suggesting the end of territorial conquest, the restitution of sovereignty, and global cooperation among others, (Inyang and Edet, 2019).
This analysis focuses on the effectiveness of the decolonisation process in Africa in general but more particularly within the ex-French colonies. (Fröhlich S. 2020) from the German media DW encapsulates this analysis very well in their article “Africa and France: An unfulfilled dream of independence?”
Clearly, the Atlantic Charter of 1942 was undoubtfully a welcomed event that announced freedom and hope for transnational cooperation across the globe. However, have African countries been effectively decolonised? More precisely, has France actually let go of its ex-colonies? The issue here is that those ex-colonies are still claiming their independence from France today, with demands for the French army repatriation on the one hand and monetary sovereignty among other claims. (Bovcon M. 2013) gives an interesting analysis of Françafrique - the relationship between France and ex-African colonies - using the regime theory within the field of international relations. The existing strong and controversial ties between France and its ex-colonies are therefore said to prevent sustainable development and peace within the ex-colonies. (Bovcon M. 2013) illustrates this claim with his focus on Ivory Coast and the Central African Republic, both located in sub-Saharan Africa.
This analysis will first set out some of the scarce solutions seen so far to address the independence issue between France and its ex-colonies, and why new or better foreign policies need to be considered. Secondly, with the guidance of theoretical policy frameworks, we shall outline some recommendations intended to better address this foreign policy problem.
Analysis
1. The France-Africa relationship or Françafrique: Success or Failure?
The lagging underdevelopment of many African countries despite the numerous international aid programmmes deserves a deeper analysis. Mostly, when considering that many Asian countries that obtained their independence between the mid-1950s and 1975s are today economically strong nation-states, with the like of Singapore, Qatar, South Korea, etc. It, therefore, becomes necessary to understand why many African nations are failing. (Acemoglu and Robinson 2013) argue that this failure is not down to climate, geography, or culture. It is mainly because of institutions.
Also, claims across the African continents suggest that the institutional landscape post-decolonisation has barely changed today. (Jackson R. 1993) defines this situation as ‘negative sovereignty’ and he describes African countries as ‘quasi-states’. In essence, the continuing lack of autonomy of African states is still noticeable post-independence, as a result of the unchanged institutional landscape across Africa. In fact, this continual institutional dependency on France, the coloniser, appears to hinder socio-political stability within its ex-colonies as France tries to institutionally maintain its colonial ties. A more recent illustration is the country Ivory Coast, where French helicopters bombarded forces Loyal to President Laurent Gbagbo in order to oust him and replace him with a more favorable leader back in 2011, (Talbot, 2011). It is logically understandable that this type of military intervention is one of the reasons for maintaining the French troops in parts of Africa. The French Government recognises its remaining strong ties with the African continent hence the need to maintain a strong diplomatic and military presence in the Sahel on the ground of general security and counter-terrorism challenges, (French Government, 2021).
In substance, the issue of lagging under-development and political instabilities within ex-French colonies in Sub-Saharan Africa could be explained through the theory of Historical Institutionalism where path dependencies are a key characteristic, (Mahonet J., 2000). During a lecture at the MacMillan Centre, ex-UK minister of state for Africa and International Development, Rory Stewart, gave a detailed analysis on ‘how not to fix failed States’. (Stewart R. 2018) essentially argues that Western international development actions could be more efficient through a better understanding of power relationships, and institutional empowerments of African states. In failing to do so, this lagging underdevelopment due to the aforementioned factors would give rise to more global policy issues such as migration, wars, and more failed states.
2. The weakness of solutions advocated to address the governance and sovereignty issues in Francophone Africa
Monetary freedom
There have been several studies in the area of political interference and sovereignty matters between France and its ex-colonies mainly from Western scholars. But such studies from African scholars appear to be very few or perhaps not advocating the best approach to this policy issue.
In December 2019, the president of the Republic of Benin shook the established paradigm when he said during an interview that it is time for the Francophone nations in West Africa to take more control over their CFA currency and move some of their financial reserves away from France, (Signé L., 2019). This is in fact because the CFA currency or colonial currency remained the same since the colonial era and remains tied to the French central bank and pegged to the Euro, while these African countries are not a part of the European Economic Community. Some African economists and policymakers such as Benin’s president consider the dependency on European monetary policies as the main restriction to sustainable growth due to the hyper fixation on inflation. This is a subject of growing debate that requires external judgment from experts at a supranational level, in order to assess the efficiency of the monetary policy reform.
Scholars and policymakers have suggested several options to improve the viability of the CFA currency or replace the currency altogether. It is worth noting that each option has advocates and opponents because they involve different policies and challenges. These challenges include inflation control, exchange rate independence, growth incentives for GDP, as well as capital mobility, (Hallet M., 2008). After more than 60 years of independence, Emmanuel Macron is the first French president to show a political will to reform the CFA currency. In December 2019, the French President solemnly revealed that monetary policy reforms would be taken in West Africa to create a new currency called ‘ECO’. Today, there are no signs that these reforms will happen anytime soon within the ex-colonies. Monetary freedom in Francophone West Africa is far more complex when we consider that France remains the first investor in countries such Ivory Coast; where private investments are mainly in extractive industries and finance, (Export Entreprises SA, 2021).
Military freedom
Naturally, prosperity in business needs security. Business operations are hardly productive in a state of social unrest. This is the bottom line. In order to secure France’s investments in Sub-Saharan Africa as well as its increasing expatriate community, it is necessary to have a France military presence in the Sahel. This is even more prominent considering the escalation of the terrorism threat in Sub-Saharan Africa over these past years, (European Parliament Briefing Paper, 2020).
Yet, several African leaders and advocates claim the repatriation of French forces to facilitate real independence from France, the coloniser. This motivation led to another military coup recently in the Republic of Mali in August 2020 where the democratically elected president was ousted and replaced by an interim military government, (IPSS Policy Brief, 2021).
Critically, fighting the growing threat of terrorism is now a global policy issue because of the spread and visible urgency of this phenomenon. But, it appears that African armies in general and those in Sub-Saharan African countries still lack the technical abilities to counter-terrorism without the presence of EU-led operations such as Barkhane, or a French military presence in the region, (Chafer T., 2021). Both the desire for military and monetary freedom appears to be very complex individual parameters. Therefore, they can hardly be a route for sustainable peace, development, and true independence in Sub-Saharan Africa.
3. Recommendations
The past decades have seen the rise of different approaches to tackle underdevelopment in Francophone Africa, which has often been associated with the countries’ lack of sovereignty and lured independence. However, the various attempts by Africans to establish their sovereignty and independence seem unsuccessful so far, as seen with the continuous claim and advocacy for military freedom and calls for monetary policy reform. Although these approaches follow a certain rationality, they appear to be bounded as they lack objectivity, full knowledge, and long-term planning, (F. Baumgartner et al., 2006).
The complexity of this policy issue goes beyond borders and across continents. Therefore, any singular or local attempt to solve this vast policy issue has few chances of success. Enabling a holistic and bipartisan dialogue could create an avenue for local and international state actors, non-governmental organisations, and other protagonists to discuss more constructively and to reach informed decisions. According to (Professor Berkman, 2017), informed decisions for sustainability operate across a continuum of urgencies and extend from security time scales that is; mitigating risks of sociopolitical instabilities which are more immediate to sustainability time scales, and balancing economic prosperity, societal welfare and environmental protection across generations for nations and the world.
For African countries to really break the colonial paradigm as they wish, would require a whole new and holistic approach. Professor Paul Berkman’s theory of Science Diplomacy appears to be an important and successful contribution to resolving global and complex issues. In this quest, success lies in the integration of science as a process for pursuing answers and the use of genuine dialogue and cooperation between countries and citizens in order to reach informed decision-making. Those decisions can then be used to inform and support foreign policy objectives, by both France and its ex-Colonies. The theory of science diplomacy appears to have been efficient in reaching a treaty over the Antarctic in 1961 and the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015, (Berkman, 2019).
Furthermore, it becomes important for a supranational entity and organization such as the United Nations (UN) to consider and arbitrate this policy problem with foreign policy connotations between France and its ex-African colonies. The global risk is to see increased migration, socio-political instability, and lagging underdevelopment across Sub-Saharan Africa. According to James Mahoney’s theory on path dependencies within Historical Institutionalism, this situation will remain a vicious circle if not addressed with new methods on a global level.
Conclusion
Today, there is still a debate on the legacy of imperialism for both its benefits and disadvantages. However, some imperial powers are somehow hesitant or slow to break the ties with their colonies despite their independence. The case of France with its West African colonies is not unique. But in this case, we established that only local and sectorial policy reforms can be inefficient to create a real and sustainable change that will lead to real independence and sovereignty.
Theories on institutionalism and bounded rationality shed a light on the inefficiency of the proposals and solutions advocated to address the problem so far.
But the success seen in applying the theory of science diplomacy in the global climate or Antarctica crisis, for example, gives a new option and approach to consider when addressing the failed states’ problem across Sub-Saharan Africa.
The unequivocal recommendation is a call for a supranational arbitration led by the United Nations to guide this Scientifique diplomatic exercise, which will eventually lead to informed decisions and policymaking by all parties. In fact, this appears as an essential step to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals for the 2030 Agenda, (United Nations, 2015).
Research paper submitted to the School of Politics and International Relations of QMUL, November 2021.
