Neocolonialism in Africa
Senior 6 · History
Neocolonialism in Africa
Lesson 1 of 4
25 min
In 1965, eight years after leading Ghana to independence, Kwame Nkrumah published a book with a provocative title: Neo-Colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism. The United States government protested strongly. A few months later, in February 1966, Nkrumah was overthrown in a military coup while he was abroad. His central argument, in Source A, is still debated across Africa today.
Important
Source A: Kwame Nkrumah, Neo-Colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism (1965), introduction (extract)
"The essence of neo-colonialism is that the State which is subject to it is, in theory, independent and has all the outward trappings of international sovereignty. In reality its economic system and thus its political policy is directed from outside."
Ask of the source: what are the "outward trappings" of sovereignty? Who might be doing the "directing from outside", and by what means? Nkrumah was a president writing about the forces he faced, so consider his purpose as well as his argument.
Definition
Neo-colonialism: the continued control of a formally independent state by outside powers, mainly through economic, political, military and cultural means rather than direct rule.
Imperialism: the policy of extending a country's power over other lands and peoples, by conquest or by economic and political domination.
Dependency: a situation in which a country's economy relies on decisions, markets, money or technology controlled from outside.
Primary products (raw materials): goods sold as they come from farms, mines or wells, such as coffee, cocoa, copper or crude oil, before processing.
Terms of trade: the price of a country's exports compared with the price of its imports. When they worsen, a country must export more to buy the same imports.
Multinational corporation (MNC): a company that owns or controls production in several countries.
Figure 1. How an economy built to export raw materials can stay dependent after independence. Drawn by Ganzaa.
| Cause | Explanation |
|---|---|
| The colonial economy was inherited | colonies had been organised to export one or two raw materials and import manufactured goods; railways ran from mines and plantations to the ports, not between African countries |
| Lack of capital and skills | new states had little money to invest and few trained engineers, doctors or managers, so they needed foreign loans, firms and experts |
| Continuing ties to the former colonial power | trade agreements, aid, defence agreements, and in fourteen French-speaking states a common currency, the CFA franc, managed with France (Lesson 2) |
| The interests of multinational corporations | foreign companies that owned mines, oil fields and plantations wanted to keep control of resources and profits after independence |
| The Cold War | the USA and the USSR competed for allies in Africa and supported friendly governments, sometimes against their own people |
| Small, divided states | Africa became independent as more than fifty states, many small and landlocked, with weak bargaining power on their own |
| Unequal world trade and finance | the rules of world trade and the big lenders were shaped before most African states existed, and raw-material prices often fell against the price of manufactured imports |
| Elites tied to the former rulers | some leaders, educated in and allied with the former colonial power, served its interests in return for support (Lesson 3) |
At independence in 1957 Ghana was the world's largest producer of cocoa, and cocoa earned most of its export income. Nkrumah's government used that income for an ambitious programme: schools, hospitals, roads, the Akosombo Dam on the Volta River and new factories. But the price of cocoa was set on world markets, not in Accra. When world cocoa prices fell sharply in the first half of the 1960s, Ghana's income fell just as its spending rose; the government borrowed abroad, debts and shortages grew, and discontent helped the soldiers who overthrew Nkrumah in 1966.
Analysis. Ghana's case shows the cycle in Figure 1: political independence did not change an economy that depended on one raw material whose price others controlled. It also shows the limits of the argument: Ghana's own policy choices, such as costly state enterprises, played a part as well.
Warning
Do not make neo-colonialism explain everything. It is a powerful idea, but a weak answer blames every African problem on outsiders. Strong answers show how outside control worked in a specific case, and also weigh internal factors such as corruption, conflict and policy choices (Lesson 3).
Tip
Use the four Ms of control. Money (loans, aid, currency), Markets (raw-material prices, trade rules), Military (bases, defence agreements, arms) and Minds (language, education, media). They help you organise causes, indicators and manifestations in any neo-colonialism question.
Important
Discuss. Nkrumah wrote that a neo-colonial state has the "outward trappings" of sovereignty. List the outward trappings Rwanda has, then discuss: what makes a country's independence real, not only formal?
Practice
Sources and credits
Written by Ganzaa: the analysis, the diagram (Figure 1), the table, the case study and the exercises.
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
