The history and politics of Africa is still a relatively unknown field amongst much of the populations in the Western world. It often takes a back seat to their own study of American/Western European studies and leaves a significant knowledge gap in the understanding of how African societies operate. It should always be respected when individuals take the daunting task of studying Africa. In this essay, I argue that while Jeffrey Herbst has laid out impressive works on the analysis of how African countries develop, it does not sufficiently take into account the historical political economy of the Western world.
In chapter 1 of “States and Power In Africa,” Herbst outlines his study and what he believes is the main problem that is currently plaguing African society today. He posits that “the fundamental assumption undergirding this study is that states are only viable if they are able to control the territory defined by their borders.” In other words, Herbst claims that the reason that African nation states are struggling to develop is mainly due to their government’s lack of ability to claim total sovereignty over their sparse populations which are spread out over their large surface area of territory. He starts first with a comparison to the history of Europe and states that Europe's population density was the catalyst of a series of a chain of events: competition for land, creation of armies and bureaucratic governments, ethnic conflict/warfare, then the creation of the nation state we know today. He then explains that because of Africa’s environment and geography, history did not take a similar turn of events, leaving Africa without dense populations and ultimately without a centralized force, which left it vulnerable to the colonialist nations. He states, “The consiquesnstial role that war played in European state development was not replicated in Africa, or in Latin America for that Matter In particular, African states have never had the security imperative to physically control the hinterlands in the face of competition from hostile neighbors.” In the post colonial era, Herbst wants to better understand how African countries are developed by analyzing this process through the lens of three categories: Cost, Boundaries, and State Systems. Cost is the cost associated when a polity seeks to consolidate the state. Whether it be security/military, infrastructure, or institutional creation, government leaders need to take into account the cost and benefits of securing their authority. Second is boundaries. Boundaries and borders need to be created in order to insulate existing nation states from outside forces of other polities as well as maximizing their own authority within the defined boundaries. Third is the state systems, or how institutions within a nation interact with themselves or in the international arena.
Although only a quick read, this chapter of Herbst’s study is interesting and creates a respectable framework to observe the development of African countries. First, I do appreciate the deeper analysis into the problems facing African countries. Understanding that there are structural and systemic issues is a good first step into solving the problems in developing countries. Far too many academics and supposed scholars make the egregious claim that developing countries have some sort of intrinsic failing-whether it be racial/genetic, cultural or moral- that hinders the progression of their societies. A rejection of these bigoted suppositions should be a given, unfortunately they are still very present among the scholarly class. Second, I do appreciate how Herbst concedes that Colonial rule cannot be ignored and is still a massive historical factor in how African countries function today. He cites Crawrod Young, “The colonial state in Africa lasted in most instances less than a century…yet it totally recorded political space, social hierarchies and cleavages, and modes of economic production…(it) determined the state units that gained sovereignty and came to form the present system of African polities.”
However, I think he does make some errors and contradictions in his premises. He starts with European history and how the modern nation state was formed. Herbst essentially wonders why populations in Africa did not choose to enact an incomprehensible amount of violence, subjugation and domination amongst themselves and others. To me, this is an inherent contradiction. How can Western European and global northern countries who pride themselves in their rule of law, free enterprise, and liberal democracy reconcile that their very institutions and ideologies they hold so dearly are born from chaos and cruelty? Without acknowledging this flawed premise, Herbst then makes a subsequent point that I have contention with. Herbst may elaborate his point further in the study, but in this chapter it seems as though he does not place enough emphasis on the role of international political and economic hegemony of Western nations, and how they have thwarted African development. If the history of Western Europe is marred by violence and warfare, who is to say that these Western Europeans nations are no longer engaging in such activities today? Whether it’s through intelligence spying and regime change that was so prevalent during the cold war, or the highly unfavorable economic/financial trade deals that we have seen and continue to see today, we can almost see that Western nations almost engage in a new form of colonialism. These Western international market forces see a race to the bottom, where capital can exploit underdeveloped nations while having their own private property protected and bolstering their own self interests by large government institutions such as borders, patent laws, intelligence agencies, militaries, and international agencies. Without restructuring the global political economy as a whole, Africa may not see much considerable progress.
In conclusion, Herbst makes a good starting point in analyzing the consolidation of nation states in Africa, but he still places far too much individual blame on Afrcans. Western nations need to acknowledge their violent past and see if they are still engaging in these harmful practices today. I think that most citizens, intellectuals and leaders of developed countries need to come to these terms first.
Herbst, J. I. (2011). The Challenge of State-Building in Africa. In States and power in Africa (pp. 1–31). essay, Princeton University Press.