Imperialism and the Democratization Process in Africa

This grassroots struggle to dismantle inherited institutions and structures of exploitation in Africa, took more of the route of democratization- the steady and systematic empowerment of the people, their communities, and constituencies in a direction which enables them to dictate and determine the content and context of politics. This would place emphasis on giving power to the people, emphasizing accountability, the protection of the environment, productivity, self-reliance, gender equality, social justice, and a humane society. But the western agenda has changed all this. Rather, the western agenda for democracy has reduced this struggle to a struggle for procedural democracy and to issues of constitutionalism. The entire endogenous project has been dismantled and atomized to a level where it looses its historical content and context and now strives to fit into a western model of democracy. First, democracy now means the market. In fact, both terms are now used interchangeable and it is assumed that only western liberal democracy can lead to capitalist development. Yet, we all know that save for a handful of countries, the entire African continent has always been pro-capitalist and pro-west. From Zaire through Kenya to Nigeria and Egypt, there have hardly been periods where non-capitalist ideological models were taken seriously. Yet, none of the nations can be regarded as being on the path to capitalist development today. The truth is that no one can prove that capitalism, especially under conditions of underdevelopment, necessarily leads to democracy or vice-versa. This position has now been appropriated by the ideologues of western capitalism and African politicians and pro-democracy activists now struggle to count the number of parties, place emphasis on periodic elections, and insist on rights which the repressive elites have not found too difficult to meet. This has led to political changes at the superficial levels as in Ghana where a military dictator aided by the World Bank easily civilianized himself and won the elections; Kenya where donors withheld foreign aid and forced liberal democracy on Moi; or Zambia where the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) heavily funded from abroad defeated Kenneth Kaunda but has been unable to restructure the state and economy away from the traditions of Kaunda.