Challenges of Nation Building in Africa and the Middle East

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Challenges of Nation Building in Africa and the
Middle East
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Africa Becomes Independent
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Freedom (Uhuru) Monument at Dar es-Salaam
Located in capital of Tanzania
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The Colonial Legacy

• Benefits
• Transportation and communication
• Improved sanitation and health care
• Political systems contributed to gradual creation
  of democratic ideas
• Benefits varied
• Only South Africa and Algeria developed along
  modern lines
• Disadvantages
• Concentrate on export crops
• Plantation agriculture and cash crops

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The Rise of Nationalism

• Goal was independence
• Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972) formed the Convention
  Peoples Party in the Gold Coast (Ghana)
• Jomo Kenyatta (1894-1978) formed the Kenya
  African National Union with a political and
  economic agenda
• Mau Mau movement among the Kikuyu people of Kenya
  used terrorism to achieve uhuru (Swahili for
  freedom)
• African National Congress formed in 1912
• Originally dominated by Western-educated
  intellectuals
• Want economic and political reforms including
  equality for educated Africans

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The Rise of Nationalism (cont.d)

• Resistance to French rule in Algeria grew in
  mid-1950s -- independence gained in 1958
• Struggle in Algeria affected Tunisia that was
  given independence in 1956
• Morocco gained independence in 1956
• Ghana (Gold Coast) gained independence in 1957
• Followed by Nigeria, Belgian Congo, Kenya,
  Tanganyika (when joined by Zanzibar, renamed
  Tanzania)
• Most French colonies agree to accept independence
  within the framework of the French Community
• By late 1960s only part of southern Africa and
  Portuguese Mozambique and Angola remained under
  European rule
• Why so slow in gaining independence?
• Colonialism was established later in Africa
• With only a few exception, coherent states with a
  strong sense of cultural, ethnic, and linguistic
  unity did not exist

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Pan-Africanism and Nationalism The Destiny of
Africa

• Most new African leaders come from the urban
  middle class
• Accept the Western model -- capitalism and at
  least lip service to democracy
• Diverse views on economics
• Highly nationalistic
• Generally accept national boundaries
• These were artificial and contained diverse
  ethnic, linguistic, and territorial groups
• Organization of African Unity (1966)
• Pan-Africanism

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Political and Economic Conditions in Contemporary
Africa

• Initial phase of pluralistic governments gave way
  to a series of military regimes
• Most African countries dependent on export of a
  single crop or natural resource
• In many instances, the resources still controlled
  by foreigners
• Neocolonialism
• Scarce natural resources spent on military
  equipment and expensive consumer goods
• Bribery and corruption
• Population growth
• Widespread hunger
• HIV and AIDS
• Poverty
• Effects of urbanization

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Present-Day Africa

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The Search for Solutions

• Tanzania
• Desire to restrict foreign investment
• Arusha Declaration, 1967
• Limitations on income and established village
  collectives
• Corruption lower at first
• Kenya
• Capitalism has had mixed results
• Ethnic tensions
• Angola and Ethiopia
• Experiments in Marxism
• South Africa
• Apartheid
• Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress
• South Africa sense the end of Apartheid

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The Search for Solutions (cont.d)

• Nigeria
• Africas most populous country
• Oil and civil war
• Ethnic and religious divisions
• Central Africa
• Rwanda and Burundi
• Zaire/Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Good News
• The African Union

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Continuity and Change in Modern Society

• Impact of the West
• Education
• Emphasis on vocational training
• Eventual introduction in European languages and
  Western culture
• State run schools
• First the emphasis was on primary schools then
  high school and universities in the urban areas
• Funding and teachers are scarce in the rural
  areas
• Little Western influence outside the cities
• Agriculture and hunting
• Migrations to plantations, cities, and refugee
  camps

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Traditional African House
Located in Dar es-Salaam, Tanzania
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African Women in Colorful Dress
Djibouti, on Red Sea
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African Women

• Change in relationship between men and women
• Traditional relationships
• Independence brought the idea of sexual equality
• Politics still dominated mostly by men
• Women became a labor force, employed in menial
  tasks
• Education open to all, but women comprise less
  than 20 percent of the students
• Rural women generally still bound by communalism
• Traditional practices still found

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African Culture

• Tension between tradition and the modern in
  African culture
• Modern African art
• Utility and ritual have given way to pleasure and
  decoration
• Traditional forms of art now more for tourists
• Modern African literature
• Means to establish black dignity and purpose
• Chinua Achebe, first major African novelist to
  write in English
• Writing from native perspective
• Shift from the brutality of the foreign oppressor
  to the shortcomings of the new native leadership
• Ngugi Wa Thiongo (b. 1938), A Grain of Wheat
• Wole Soyinka (b. 1934), The Interpreters
• Women writers
• Ama Ata Aidoo (b. 1942), Changes A Love Story
• Music

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Crescent of Conflict

• Militant Islam as a sense of community
• September 11, 2001
• Humiliation and disgrace
• Modern regimes in Turkey and Iran
• More traditional in Saudi Arabia
• European influence and control
• The Question of Palestine
• Arab League, 1945
• Zionists and an independent Jewish state, 1948
• Sense of Wests betrayal of the interests of the
  Palestinian people
• Palestinian refugees cross into neighboring
  states
• Syria angered by the creation of Lebanon

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Israel and Arab Neighbors, 1947-1994

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Nasser and Pan-Arabism

• King Farouk of Egypt overthrown in 1952
• Monarchy replaced by a republic in 1953
• General Gamal Abdul Nasser seizes power in 1954
• Reforms
• Nationalizes the Suez Canal, 1956
• Britain, France, Israel attack Egypt
• U.S. supports Nasser
• Pan-Arabism
• Egypt and Syria unite to form the United Arab
  Republic,1958
• Other Arab states suspicious and do not join the
  union
• UAR ends in 1961
• Palestine Liberation Organization created in 1964
• Al-Fatah led by Yasir Arafat (b. 1929) launches
  terrorist attacks

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The Modern Middle East

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Arab-Israeli Dispute

• Growing hostility
• Knesset (parliament created)
• June, 1967, Six-Day War
• Nasser died in 1970 and succeeded by Anwar
  al-Sadat (1918-1981)
• Yom Kippur War, 1973
• Camp David Agreement, 1978
• Sadat assassinated by Arab militants, October
  1981
• Intifada (uprising) by PLO supporters in Israel,
  1980s
• Terrorist attacks by Palestinians
• Minister Ehud Barak tried to re-start the peace
  process
• Peace process broke down by 2000
• Hard-line prime minister, Ariel Sharon
• Suicide attacks

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Revolution in Iran

• Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
  (OPEC)
• Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (1919-1980), 1941-1979
• Social and economic reforms
• Affluent middle class emerging
• Land reform
• Internal problems
• Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini (1900-1989)
• Shiite cleric exiled to Iraq and then France
• Shah leaves the country in 1979, and the
  government collapsed shortly thereafter with a
  new government dominated by Khomeini
• American embassy hostages
• Iranian Revolution moderated slightly, but
  repression returned in mid-1990s
• Mohammad Khatemi, a moderate cleric
• Move to a more pluralistic society open to the
  outside world
• Opposition from conservative elements

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Crisis in the Gulf

• Iraq
• Saddam Hussein (b. 1937), 1979-2003
• War against Iran, 1980-1988
• Iraq sends military forces into Kuwait, 1990
• United Nations response

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Conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq

• Response to the terrorist attacks of September,
  2001
• Nation controlled by the Taliban who provided a
  base for terrorist Osama bin Laden
• After September 11, 2001, coalition overthrows
  the Taliban
• United States turned its attention to Iraq
• Alleged that there were weapons of mass
  destruction
• War began March, 2003

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Society and Culture in the Contemporary Middle
East

• Traditional monarchy of Saudi Arabia
• Some areas traditional authority replaced by
  one-party rule or military dictatorships
• Other states charismatic rule given way to
  modernizing bureaucratic regimes
• Israel, democratic institutions

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Economics of Oil

• Millions in the Middle East live in abject
  poverty, a fortunate few are wealthy the
  difference is oil
• Approaches to developing strong and stable
  economies
• Arab socialism
• Western capitalist model
• Maintaining Islamic doctrine
• Agriculture
• Wealthiest hold much of the land
• Lack of water
• Encourage emigration
• Why failure of democratic institutions?
• Willingness of the West to coddle dictatorships
  to keep access to oil
• Culture of Islam

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Islamic Revival

• Many Muslims believe Islamic values and modern
  ways not incompatible and may be mutually
  reinforcing
• Fundamentalists are a rational and practical
  response to destabilizing forces and
  self-destructive practices
• Seeking a cultural identity
• Reaction to Western influences
• Create a modernized set of beliefs such as in
  Turkey, Egypt, and Iran
• Secularization
• Reaction to secularization in Iran where there
  was a movement to Islamic purity
• Seeking purity found in Algeria, Egypt, and
  Turkey
• Trend toward Islamic purity

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Modern Islam, 1998

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Women and Islam

• Traditional role of women in Islamic societies
• Modernist views that Islamic doctrine not opposed
  to womens rights
• Many restrictions due to pre-Islamic folk
  traditions that were tolerated in the early
  Islamic era
• More traditional views have prevailed in many
  Middle Eastern countries
• Impact of the Iranian Revolution
• Most conservative nation is Saudi Arabia
• Rights extended in some countries
• Vote in Kuwait
• Equal right to seek a divorce in Egypt
• Attend university, receive military training,
  vote, practice birth control, and publish fiction
  in Iran

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Literature and Art

• Cultural Renaissance
• Iran one of the most prolific countries
• The veil (chador) a central metaphor in Iranian
  womens writing
• In Egypt the most illustrious writer is Naguib
  Mahfouz who wrote Cairo Trilogy
• Art
• Influenced by Western culture

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Discussion Questions

• What role did nationalism play in postwar
  independence movements in Africa?
• Why have so many African nations moved toward
  authoritarianism since independence?
• How has Western imperialism contributed to
  contemporary conflicts in the Middle East?
• What are the most important cultural trends in
  the contemporary Middle East?