UNIVERSITY OF LAGOSFACLTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE

TOPIC:

POLITICAL ECONOMY OF NEO-COLONIAL STATE

COURSE TITLE:

COMPARATIVE FEDERALISM

COURSE CODE:

POL 839

PRESENTED BY:

ADEKAHUNSI OLUSHOLA ADENIYI

MATRIC N0:- 129084130

LECTURER: PROF. AKINBOYE

ABSTRACT

Economic forces and conditions are the key determinant of the course of

world politics. Political economy therefore, is a conceptualization of two

words, politics and economy. Politics strive to allocate value or policy, that’s

power to share, distribute or allocate while economy refers to relation

between productions, trade and money of any particular place, be it state,

society.

Therefore, political economy is simply put, how policies of government

affect production, trade, and money or how government authoritatively

allocates resources in a particular state/nation. Political economy is very

important so also its study. It remains the sub-structure of any society,

state/nation.

Therefore, the need to study political economy of neo-colonial state is not a

misnomer rather it will help us to understand the political economy of

states that were formally colonized which Nigeria is not an exception. This

paper takes a look at how colonialism and neo-colonialism affected the

political and economic system of post colonial states. No doubt, Nkrumah

and many other Africa revolutionary theorists were influenced by the

Marxist philosophical tradition. This encourages their resolve to liberate

the whole Africa from the shackles of colonialism and neo-colonialism.

Nkrumah, in particular, did not advocate for a violent revolution, as it seen

in Marxist dictatorship of the proletariat, but believe that the second

revolution as he termed it would be for economic reconstruction and

developments in post-colonial era. To him economic reconstruction is the

revolution upon which other developments in post-colonial Africa could be

achieved. He believes that the economies of any society form the basis

upon which other superstructures are founded be it social or political.

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Political economy as a concept is relatively old in the

economics literature. Perhaps it is relevant to note that man, in

the very early days of his existence, was not unduly worried

about the need to feed and to clothe himself. But as the

population increased and man’s desires multiplied, it became

evident that the resources at his disposal were limited as

compared to his wants. Hence, the idea that people can come

together to solve their common problems in a more efficient

manner both on inter-personal and inter-group levels. They began

to live in entities such as families, clans, villages, city-

states, provinces, kingdoms and empires.

The major consideration of their existence as a group,

irrespective of the way in which it’s organized, either simple or

complex is the need to satisfy their physical or basic

requirement for survival.

The fundamental human activity of trying to satisfy material

needs of man is called economic activity. (Rangarajan and

Dholakia,1979). These economic activities of man wouldn’t have

caused any special problem had it not been for the fact that the

resources at man’s disposal are limited as compared to the needs.

Consequently, political economy as a concept was introduce at the

beginning of the 17th century to describe the study of the

problems of the princely states, which at the close of the middle

Ages in Europe replaced the feudal-ecclesiastical political

order. What then is Political Economy?

2.0 Definitional issues

2.1 Political economy

According to Banwo in Hassan Salihu (1999:9) political economy is

a science which deals with economy law governing production,

exchange and distribution of wealth at various stages of the

evolution of human society.

Political economy describes the exercise of power and authority

in relation to the economic activities of a nation. It’s the

sharing of resources by the power that be. That’s authoritative

allocation of power and value as it’s propounded by David Easton.

Adam Smith, Father of Modern Economics was the first to present a

comprehensive systematized study on political economy in his

book. The Wealth of Nations, published in 1776. He seems to

equate political economy with the treatment of “the nature and

causes of the Wealth of nations”. He treated political economy as

the study of how politics interplays with economics to determine

the creation of wealth, its distribution and exchange

regulations.

Other works on the subject mater at that period include that of

David Ricardo, “Principles of political Economy and Taxation”

(1817). Ricardo focuses attention on the management of grave

tension between capital and labour. He observe that class

contradiction were quite evident because labour was partly

rewarded. His concern was partly how to stabilize wages so that

the working class would produce more than wealth and at the same

time live at the subsistence level (and not from hand to mouth).

And John Stuart Mill, “Principle of Political Economy” (1848).

The work also gave increased attention to the problems of value

and distribution.

Political Economy became more dynamic with the entry of Karl Marx

into the scene of studies on the subject matter. He gave a

critique of the earlier works in a three volume book called

“Capital”. He stressed that the principle that governs all human

relations rest solely on the production of the means of

production of the means to support life.

In fact, it has always been the case in human society that the

expansion of the economy leads eventually to a change in the form

of social relations. Hence Karl Marx was able to distinguish

within European history, several stages of development. viz a viz

Communalism, slavery, Feudalism, Capitalism and Socialism.

The view of Karl Marx on political economy was also shared by

Lenin and also Engel. According to Engel, “Man must eat before he

can do anything else”. Consequently, they all conceived political

economy as a science that studies the social system of

production, the economic relations between people in the process

of production, distribution and exchange of material values at

every stage of mankind’s development.

In essence therefore, political economy has come to mean many

things to many people. It is indeed, a hybrid of other social

disciplines, such as sociology, economics, history and of cause

political science.

2.2 Definition of Neo-Colonialism

The term “Neo-colonialism” has been variedly defined by scholars.

Dr. Nkrumah of Ghana defines neo-colonialism as “the sum total of

modern attempts to perpetuate colonialism while the same time

talking about freedom” (Mutiso and Ohio, 1978). Another

definition is that neo-colonialism is “the existence of

considerable or nominally independable foreign direction over a

nominally independent nation” (Encyclopedia Britannica, vol.

4:95). As a western ideology, Neo-colonialism is a doctrine that

believes and teaches that the former colonial masters should

indirectly control the economy of their colonies, even though,

they have attained political independence.

3.0 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

The theory adopted for this paper is “Dependency Theory” Its

central argument is that the underdeveloped countries of the

world cannot hope to develop if they do not come to grips with

the reasons for their underdevelopment and work towards

eliminating them as well as transforming their situations.

The theory opines that colonialism hindered or suppressed the

interest of the colonies for the sake of capitalism. Added to

this is the phenomenon of neo-colonialism which gained ascendancy

after the attainment of independence by the Third World nations.

Colonialism and neo-colonialism according this theory were used

as apparatus for merciless and ruthless exploitation of the

resources of the peripheral States.

Third World underdevelopment is the result of a historic process

by which capitalism had to develop outside of Europe, which

necessitated the colonialism of the pre-capitalist people of the

present Third World. Colonialism began meant the incorporation of

the Third World countries into the world capitalist system as

peripheries link (satellite) in an imperial chain that had the

colonizing and other nations of the West as the centre

(metropole). Colonial imperialism ensured that capitalism in the

West got the raw materials (and markets for finished goods) it

needed for development and further expansion from the Third

World. But to do this, the Third World suppliers of these raw

materials (and providers of markets for the finish goods) needed

to remain underdeveloped and dependent on develop capitalist

countries. Invariably, political economy of the Third World

remains in the hand of the colonial masters.

This perspective observed that the redemption of the ex-colonies

is predicted on their historic resolve to de-link with their

former colonial Lords. Failure on their part to act switchly

would mean a perpetual impoverishes and underdevelopment.

4.0 COLONIALISM

The modern world has been shaped by thousands of years of

colonization. From the ancient times, through the Middle Ages and

to the modern era, people have travelled to and settle in new

areas and countries. As people moved, they came into contact with

other people and cultures. Sometimes there was conflict leading

to the destruction of the indigenous people and their culture.

Other time there was exchange of knowledge, goods and traditions.

Colonialism is a concept which derives its meaning from the

English word, colony, which means “a place or land settled by

force by people from another country, to whose parent or home

government it is in some degree subject” (Watson, 1968). By

definition, colonialism refers to the policy and practice of a

strong power extending its control territorially over a weaker

nation or people.

Ahmed/Hamed, 2005. Colonialism is a process through which the

world outside Europe was conquered, divided or share and

dominated by the western capitalist countries in order to get raw

material for their industries, market for their products and

cheap labour for other productive activities. Through colonialism

each of the major European power was able to introduce specific

political, economic and social process that facilitated the

attainment of its economic interests in its domain.

The essence of these various politics pursued by the colonial

power was to consolidate the capitalist mode of production and to

convert their colonies into producers of raw materials and

suppliers of cheap labour for the colonizing powers. Through

colonialism many third world countries were incorporated into the

capitalist world economy and were assigned a distinct position in

the division of labour of the capitalist world system.

Establishing political control, or sovereignty, over their

colonies was the primary objectives of the colonial powers in the

early years of colonialism. The colonial powers used a

combination of warfare, threat of force, and treaty making with

Africa rulers in their effort to gain political control of

African colonies. Once political control was realized and

institutions of governance were in place, economic became the

main concern of the colonial governments.

In 1885, the year when the partition of Africa was concluded,

Jules Fery, open-up this myth, and stated the three objectives

why Europe nations desired colonies: to access raw materials, to

provide markets for manufactured goods; and as a field for the

investment of surplus capitals. In an unmistaken term, colonial

secretary of state for France said in 1923, “what is the use of

painting the truth? Colonialism was not an act of civilization,

the origin of colonialism is nothing else than enterprise of

individual interests a one-sided egotistical imposition of the

strong upon the weak. (Quoted in Nkrumah, 1973; 19)

From the writings of other scholars such as Frantz Fanon, Samir

Amir, and Julius Nyerere, the evils and intrigues of neo-

colonialism were reveled. In the early 1960s, the aftermath of

Africa Independence, Frantz Fanon in the “Wretched of the Earth”

warned of the dangers posed to true African Independence, the un-

liberated condition of Africa States, whose economies were still

dominated by the former colonizers (Fanon, 1968).

Julius Nyerere, also bemoaned the absence of such things as a

national economy in Africa Sates, and described the neo-colonial

status of Africa States, as reflected in the in the various

economic activities……owned by people outside its jurisdiction,

which are directed at external needs, and which are run in the

interests of external economic powers (Nyerere 1978:338).

A Nigeria scholar Iweriebor (1997:30) in his own

conceptualization argues that neo-colonialism is not simply

economic control and exploitation, but a comprehensive

phenomenon, whose objectives is to fashion subordinate peripheral

capitalist societies in the third world.

The study attempts to examine Political Economy of Colonization

of African states vise-a-visa the role of colonialism. The

colonization of Africans has leads to domination of Africans in

all areas, be it, administrations, education, religion,

productions, culture, etc.

For a proper dissection of this paper, we would be looking at

what is political economy, colonialism, political economy of neo-

colonialism, underdevelopment, recommendations, conclusions and

references. The Theoretical Methodology for this work will be

dependency theory.

4.0.1 FACTORS THAT LEAD TO COLONIALISM

The aim of all colonial governments in Africa and elsewhere has

been the struggle for raw materials; and not only this, but the

colonies have become the dumping ground, and colonial peoples the

false recipients, of manufactured goods of industrialist and

capitalists of Great Britain, France, Belgium and other colonial

powers who turn to the dependent territories which feed their

industrial plants, (Nkrumah, 1947). Hence, the following factors,

The industrial Revolution led European country to hunt for

raw materials needed to develop products

Improved method of transportation

Several Europeans countries become engaged in a growing

colonial rivalry with each others.

4.1.0 POLITICAL ECONOMIC REASONS FOR COLONIALISM

4.1.1 Demand for raw materials.

In 19th century, Europe experienced industrial revolution.

Industrial production, like all modes of production, requires

human resources, capital resources and natural resources. Europe

industries depend on raw material from Asia, Africa etc.

One of the earliest industries in Europe was the cotton textile

Industries, this industries was completely dependent on imported

cotton.

As industrialization grow and spread through Europe, competition

for raw materials increased. Consequently, some European

industrialists encourage their government to colonize Africa

Countries as a method of guaranteeing sources of raw materials.

4.1.2 Need for market.

By the late 19th century, the industries in Europe were producing

more industrial goods than Europeans could consume. Consequently,

industrialist sought markets for their goods around the world. As

competition between industries for markets grew, industrialists

encouraged their governments to undertake colonization of Africa

in order to protect markets for their industrial goods.

4.2 EXPLOITATION

4.2.1 Mineral Exploitation:

Africa is a continent rich in mineral resources. In colonies

where there were large deposits of minerals, colonial governments

encouraged the exploitation of the minerals. Northern Rhodesia

(Zambia) and the (Belgian Congo (Congo) are examples of colonies

whose economies were dominated by copper production. In these

colonies, colonial governments initiatedpolicies that forced some

African farmers to leave their home to become mine workers.

4.2.2 Large Scale Agricultural Production

In colonies in East and Southern Africa that had climate

attractive to European settler, the primary colonial economic

activity and revenue generation was large scale farm owned by the

Europeans. Examples include Angola, (coffee), Kenya (coffee tea),

and South Rhodesia/Zimbabwe (tobacco). In this system, European

settler farmers need land and labor to meet these needs, the

colonial governments institutes unpopular policies that removed

good farm land from local populations and forces men to work as

laborers on European controlled farms.

4.2.3 Small Scale Agricultural Production

Most African colonies had neither large deposits of minerals, nor

the environment to encourage European settlement. In these

colonies, governments actively encourage farmers to grow special

cash crops that would be exported to raise revenues. Cash crops

include food crops such as groundnuts/peanuts (Senegal, Nigeria)

coffee (Tanganyika, Rwanda, and Uganda), cocoa (Ghana, Togo, Cote

D’Ivour) and non food crops, such as cotton (Mali, Niger and

Sudan) and tobacco (Malawi).

4.2.4 Supply of Labour

Parts of some African colonies were poor in natural resources. In

these situations, the colonial regimes instituted policies that

strongly encourage able bodied men to leave their homes and

migrated either to distant areas within the same colony or to

neighboring colonies where they worked in mine or large scale

farms.

Mine owners and commercial farmers paid a recruitment fee to the

colonial government of the workers home country. For example, in

Southern Africa the colonies of Bechuanaland of Mozambique and

Malawi become labor reservoir for the mines and large farms of

Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia and South Africa.

4.2.5 Mixed Economies

Most colonial economies in Africa are called mono – economies by

economist. This indicates that the colonial economies were

dependent on mining, settler Agriculture, or the small scale

production of a single cash crop. There were few exceptions to

this trend. By the end of colonization in South Africa (1994),

the country had a very vibrant and diversified economy boasting

mineral, agricultural and manufacturing industries, and an

advance commerce sector.

Another example of a mixed economy is Nigeria. In 1950s, the last

decade before independence, the discovery of large reserve of

petroleum helped diversify agriculturally based economy.

5.0 POLITICAL CONTROL OF COLONIAL AFRICA

5.1 INDIRECT RULE

In Nigeria, the Gold cost in West Africa, and Kenya, Uganda,

Tanganyika in East Africa, foe example, Britain organized its

colonies at the central, provincial and regional or district

levels. There was usually a governor or a governor – general in

the colonial capital who governs along with an appointed

executive council and legislative council of appointed and

selected local and foreign members.

The governor was responsible to the colonial office and the

colonial secretary in London, from who laws, policies, and

programmed were received. He made some local laws and policies,

however, colonial policies and directive were implemented through

a central administrative organization or a colonial secretariat,

with officers responsibility for different departments such as

Revenue, Agriculture, Trade, Transport, Health, Education,

Police, Prison, and so on.

The British colonies were often subscribed into provinces headed

by provincial commissioners or residents, and then into district

officers or district commissioners. Laws and policies on

taxation, public works forced Labor, Mining, Agricultural

production, and other matters were made in London or in the

colonial capital and then passed down to the lower administrative

levels for enforcement.

At the provincial and district levels the British established the

system of local administration popularly known as indirect rule.

The theory and practices of indirect rule is commonly associated

with Lord Lugard, who was the fist Britain high commissioner for

the Northern Nigeria and later governor – general of Nigeria. In

the Hausa/Fulani emirates of northern Nigeria he found that they

had an established and functional administrative system. Lugard

simply and wisely adapted it to his ends. It was cheap and

convenient.

The system had three major institutions: the ‘native authority’

made up of the local ruler, the colonial official, and the

administrative staff; which collected revenue to pay for local

administrative staff and services.

In general, indirect rule worked fairly well in area that had

long – established centralized state systems such as chiefdoms,

city-state, kingdoms, and empires with their functional

administrative and judicial system.

Inspect the political umbilical cords that tied the people

together with the old system of chief, emirs etc. has been

broken. New era of political colonization has begun.

In the decentralized societies, the system of indirect rule

worked less well, as they did not have a single ruler. The

British colonizers, unfamiliar with these political systems and

insisting that African “Natives” must have chiefs, often

appointed licensed leaders called warrant chiefs, as in igbo land

for example.

5.2 SYSTEM OF ASSIMILATION

The French, on their part established a highly centralized

administrative system that was influenced by their ideology of

colonialism and their colonial ideology explicitly claimed

strative centralism. Their colonial ideology explicitly claimed

that they were on a “civilizing mission to lift the benighted

‘natives’ out of backwardness to the new status of civilized

French Africans. To achieve this, the French used the policy of

assimilation, whereby through acculturation and education and

fulfillment of some formal conditions, some “natives” would

become evolved and become civilized French Africans. In practice,

the stringent conditions set for citizenship made it virtually

impossible for most colonial subjects to become French

citizenship, to speak French fluently, to have served the French

meritoriously, and to have won an award, and so on. If they

achieved French citizenship, they would have French rights and

could only be tried by French courts, since France would not

provide the educational system to train all its colonized

subjects to speak French and would not establish administrative

and social system to employ all its subjects, assimilation was

more an imperialist political and ideology posture than a serious

political objectives.

In terms of the actual administrative system in its various

Africa colonies, Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco in North Africa,

and Senegal, French Guinea, French Sudan, Upper Volta, Dahomey,

and others in West Africa, and Gabon, Congo – Brazzaville,Ubngi –

Shari in central Africa. The French used a system of direct rule.

In colonial capitals the governors were responsibleto the

minister of colonies in Paris. Most laws and policies were sent

from Paris, and the governor who ruled with general councils was

expected to enforce them in line with France’s centralist

traditions. The colonies were also subdivided into smaller

administrative units as follows: circles under commandant du

circles, subdivisions under chef de subdivisions, and at the next

level, cantons were administered by African chiefs who where in

effect like British warrant chiefs.

While France tried to maintain this highly centralized system, in

some parts of its colonies where it encountered strongly

establishment centralized state systems, the French were

compelled to adopt the policy of association, a system of rule

operating in alliance with proxy African ruling institutions and

leaders. Thus, it was somewhat like British Indirect rule,

although, the French still remained committed to the doctrine of

assimilation. In the association system, local governments were

run with African rulers whom the French organized at three levels

and grades: chef de province (provincial chief), chef de canton

(district chiefs), and chef de village (village chief).

In general, the French administrative system was more

centralized, bureaucratic and interventionist than the British

system of colonial rule. The other colonial powers such as

Germany, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, and Italy use varied

administrative system to facilitate, control and then

economically exploit Africans. However, no matter the political

system, they were all alien, authoritarian, and bureaucratic and

distorted African systems of administrations, economics and

social way of life which make African dependent.

To Cohen (1973) colonialism entails the following: “economic

exploitation combines with domination and the superimposing of

European control over indigenous political authority” what is

critical is critical is that colonialism seeks to reverse the

power relations between countries.

6.0 NEO-COLONIALISM

Neo-colonialism is a concept which takes its root from the Greek

word, neos, meaning, new, recent or revise. Neo-colonialism,

therefore, is a revised colonialism or colonialism, in disguise,

to deceive the former subject that they gained political

independence from their colonial masters, although they are

instead economically and technologically dependent on their

former colonial masters.

Neo-colonialism has to do with ‘false decolonization’ or pseudo

political independence which preserves the colonial relation

relationship of western domination and the political independent

former colonies dependency on economies and technology of their

former colonial masters. Neo-colonialism is a concept premised on

ideological leaning that whoever controls the economy

automatically controls the political power. It is therefore, “a

situation where the economy of a nation is controlled from

outside, while the political power are being exercised by the

ruling group inside the state.” Thus, according to Dr. Nkrumah

(1966); “for those who practice it, it mean power without

responsibility and for those who surfer from it, it means

exploitation without redress.”

Nkrumah further explains that Neo-colonialism is not only “a

stage in development of imperialism, but, the last stage of

capitalism” and to that extent, neo-colonialism is the “worst

form of imperialism.” Its major instrument is balkanization which

renders independent former colonial territories “client state

with political independence minus economic independence”

(Nkrumah, 1965) in Mutiso and Ohio (1987:435-7)

From the writings of other scholars such as Frantz Fanon,

6.0.1 ORIGIN OF NEO-COLONIALISM

In his short, but scholarly work on neo-colonialism, Iweriebor

(1997:3) identified four stages in African transition to a neo-

colonial status. During these stages which, according to him,

spanned a period of five centuries, Africa was subjected to both

open exploitation and

subsequently, underdevelopment of her economies. Iweriebor’s

classifications are, perhaps a summary of Water Rodney’s How

Europe underdeveloped Africa, or Basil Davidson’s book, with the

title: The Black Man’s Burden – Africa and the Curse of the Nation-

state.

The first epoch of African encounter with the Europeans was the

period of slave trade from the 15th Century to the early 19th

century, when slave trade was abolished, to pursue what was

called ‘legitimate trade’. During this period Africans were

parceled and shipped to Europe and

North America to provide cheap labour. The “surplus value”

produced as a result of this massive exploitation contributed

significantly to the industrialization of Western Europe.

The period of mercantile trade or imperialism from the early to

late 19th century constitutes the second era of exploitation.

This epoch inaugurated in Africa the operations of British

Companies like the British South African Company, British East

African Company and the United African Company as well as

companies of other colonial powers, like France, Portugal and

Spain.

(Iweriebor, 1997:4). But because Western imperialism considered

the exercise of sovereignty by Africa as exemplified in several

treaties of friendship, signed with African traditional rulers

objectionable, they pressurized their home countries to colonize

Africa. This was the antecedent to the scramble for, and the

eventual partition of Africa in Berlin in 1885; which set the

stage for the third epoch.

The era of colonial domination was that of direct political

domination, economic exploitation, and cultural imperialism. When

it suited the Europeans, this colonial subjugation of Africa by

superior firepower was justified on the altruistic ground of

“civilizing mission”. In other instances, it was based on the

myth of racial superiority. The tenor of this era was the

forceful conversion of African land and resources, as well as

African rulers as colonial agents, under ordinances issued in the

name of the Crown.

But the more enduring consequences of the colonial era were the

establishment of the structure, and institutions to foster

African economic and ideological dependence on the West. This was

achieved through the development of export crops tied to external

vagaries,

Commerce “base” tied to Western outlets and “investment” in

extractive industries. Colonialism also created a bourgeois class

which Nkrumah (1970:10) called “African bourgeoisie,” and

described them as a “class which thrived under colonialism”, and

benefiting still “under post independence, neo-colonial period”.

This class-political, economic and intellectual – have been

mentally and psychologically subjugated that it could only

conceive its own society from Europe prisms, and apply models and

tools provided by Western Imperialism. This class, ironically,

also include some of the nationalists who championed the anti-

colonial struggle but were yet to wean themselves from

imperialist grip. This class in Iweriebor’s words:

“Represented African rejection of colonialism; but as a class it

did not reject the Western Colonial model. The colonial era

inexorably, set the stage for the fourth epoch, the neo-colonial

stage, which is focus of this unit.

The root of neo-colonialism in Africa therefore has both internal

and external dimensions. The ideologically backward, and

reformist nationalist leadership that succeeded the colonial

powers, and pursued economic and political interests against the

common interests of the people, constitutes the internal

dimension. The external dimension is represented by Western “neo-

imperialism” represented by Western Capitalist States which offer

various tempting financial, educational, and advisory aids to the

new African States” (Iweriebor, 1997:5).

6.0.2 FEATURES OF NEO-COLNIALISM

A neo-colonial is a client or pawn state, which enjoys nominal

independence, but lack the essential attributes of a sovereign

state. In other words a neo-colonial state is independent name,

but is bereft of power to pursue independent action that will

result in self-reliant development. According to Nkrumah, because

it was no longer possible to reverse the momentum generated by

anti-colonial nationalism, “old fashioned colonialism” was

everywhere on the retreat. In order to safeguard and preserve

their economic interest, the imperialists took a retreat and

resorted to a neo-colonial arrangement, as a tactical expedient.

In a neo-colonial state, the power exercising control is often

the former colonial power as it is in most Franco phone African

countries. The only exception was Guinea, under Sekou Toure, with

a single dissenting No Vote to a proposal for a French Community

at the 28th September, 1958

Referendum, organized at the instance of General de Gaulle. For

this courageous decision, Guinea was made to suffer reprisals. It

is also possible for another country, apart from the mother

country to maintain a neo-colonial relation with another. A case

in point is South Vietnam, which was colonized by France, but

maintained a neo-colonial relation with U.S.A. Also, Congo, a

former colony of Belgium, whose economy in the 60s was controlled

by a consortium of foreign financial interests, is another

variant of a neo-colonial relationship (Nkrumah 1965:10).

A neo-colonial state is also, usually, faced with internal

contradictions. According to Nkrumah, to make it attractive to

the citizens of such states, it must be shown to be capable of

improving their standard of living. But this can only be achieved

at the expense of neo-colonial interest, which is to keep African

countries, economically subjected.

A state in the grip of neo-colonialism is also not a master of

its own destiny, and this constitutes a threat to world peace. In

the Cold War era, the two super-powers employed neo-colonial

states as pawns or proxies to fight their limited wars. The

crisis, which engulfed Congo on attainment of independence, was a

manifestation of neo-colonialism.

Being the final and perhaps, the most dangerous stage in the

capitalist development, neo-colonial powers are never sensitive

to the interests of the people of a neo-colonial state. Indeed,

authority to govern is not from the people, but from the

metropolitan power. It can even come from multi-national

corporations, which dominate economies of African countries,

because of their pervasive, and often, negative mode of

operations.

The pervasive impact of these new global actors which operate

across national frontiers has been illustrated by Joseph Nye

(2000:8) thus: presently at least 12 transnational corporations

have annual sales that are larger than the gross national product

(GNP) of more than half of the States in the world. The turn over

of companies such as Shell, IBM, or General Motors are larger

than the GDP of countries such as Hungary, Ecuador or the

Democratic Republic of Congo. Neo-colonialism is not an

exclusively African phenomenon. Rather, it has been an

established

Practice in other parts of the world, especially in Asia and

Latin America.

Since neo-colonialism, according to Lenin (1917), is imperialism

in its “Last stage”, or in the words of Nkrumah (1964) in its’

highest stage”. It is based on exploitation, fragmentation and

penetration. This was further elaborated by John Galtung in his

structural theory of imperialism. The process includes an uneven

trade pattern or flow of an asymmetric or unfair trade relations,

and protective tariffs. The second component of dominance is

fragmentation. The picture here is that of coordinated and united

rich counties versus a disorganized and dis-united periphery.

Also, while the center countries establish links in different

directions, the poor countries concentrate their activities to

the center. This was achieved, for example, in the early years of

independence, by given African countries associate membership of

bodies like the European community, which in actual fact amounted

to de facto second class membership.

6.0.3 Methods of Neo-Colonialism

The following are some of the methods used by the colonizers

under Neo-colonialism for economic domination and exploitation of

the former colonies that are now independent sovereign states.

These methods of neo-colonial subjugation range from:-

Foreign Troops:

Troops of the imperial power often garrison the territories

of the neo-colonial states and control their government. For

example, most ex-colonies, especially France colonies signed

military defense pact with their ex-colonial masers at

independence.

Western Education:

It uses education as an umbrella, by offering to train the

citizens of neo-colonial states abroad and also by

partanning neo-colonial education alongside the West.

Westernizing indigenous/colonial languages:

English/French in Neo-colonial states are second language.

It is a second language because independent states already

had their first language or Mother tongues before the

incursion of these foreign languages. It should be noted

that the culture and values of the people are embedded in

the language they speak. As such it is said that language

is culture and none can be separated from each other.

Hence, neo-colonial states are neither Western in culture,

yet not been an Africans. They are either their or here.

Foreign Trade:

During colonialism, the economies of the ex-colonies were

systematically linked with the western capitalist economic

system through international trade in an unequal

Relationship of dependency and domination. The western

economic theory of international division of labour was

strongly encouraged and implemented to the letters in these

colonies. This eventually turned the ex-colonies to

producers of primary agricultural products [raw material

and good] while relying on importation of finished goods.

Available data have confirmed the picture of underdeveloped

countries as raw materials exporters and finished goods

importers.

Foreign Investment:

Investment in terms of capital inflow into the ex-colonies,

it is argued, is not co-measurable with the capital outflow

from the ex-colonies of Africa Asia and Latin America, to

the metropolitan countries of the West.

In other words, the amount f money that goes out from

Africa, Asia and Latin America in the form of profits

realized from foreign investment is far more than what is

invested in these countries

Multinational Firm:

The establishment of foreign owned and foreign controlled

multinational companies has come to play vital roles in the

economic and political affairs of their host countries.

Most often than not, these firms, because of their profound

economic importance to their host counties, influence and

sometimes determine the course of political decisions in

their host countries. In most cases, these firms, like

shell, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and others in Nigeria, control

vital sectors of the host countries economies:

Neo-Colonial Aid:

Multi-lateral aid by world financial institutions, like the

international Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank,

International Finance Co-operation (IFC) give loans on high

interest rates and also supervise the disbursement by

prescribing conditionalities which pills must be hard to

swallow. This development assistance from advanced to Third

World nations often come in form of aids. It is however

erroneous to assume that such aids are purely on charitable

purposes. They are always accompanied with certain

conditions, the implications of which in most cases, create

“political servitude and economic subjugation” A good

example is economic programme such as Structural Adjustment

programme (SAP) which is used to manipulate ex-colonies

economies.

Espionage Activities:

Espionage refers to the use of spies by the former

colonizers to obtain military secrets. Spies may hide under

cover of religion, missionary activities, diplomatic corps,

journalism or ideology to obtain secret information about

Military, technology and even economic discoveries in neo-

colonial states. This refers to almost invisible activities

of agencies, like, the (CIA) Central intelligence Agency

which through various devices indirectly control leaders in

neo-colonial states.

Consequences of Neo-Colonialism:

African politicians, like Oginga Odinga, Julius Nyerere

Nkrumah, to mention but a few having assessed the

activities of neo-colonialism as an ideology and a

movement, concluded that it is the worst form of

imperialism. Its practices are closely tied to capitalist

ideology with link with international finance of the multi-

national corporations and all forms of external dependency.

Consequently, it causes severe exploitation of human and

natural resources of the ex-colonial states.

Neo-colonialism is relatively responsible for human

degradation, poverty and the periphery, the urban and the

rural areas.

It denies the people the full meaning of independence. It

prevents the people from earnestly developing their

economic potentials.

It widens the gap between the haves and the haves not. It

causes the continuous economic disparities between the

metropolis and the periphery, the urban and the rural

areas.

6.0.4 Impact of Neo-Colonialism

We already know that colonialism was a huge economic enterprise,

so it is with neocolonialism. Therefore, neo-colonialism has its

political, economic, military and cultural aspect which we are

now going to separate, for analytical purposes. 6.0.5 Political Aspect

We also know that African definition and conceptualization of

democracy is Eurocentric. Africans borrowed foreign systems,

institutions, and even process, and look toward the examples of

the West when they seek to consolidate democracy. So democracy is

not consolidated when it does not conform to western tradition or

precepts.

To nourish or renew the practice of democracy African leaders

travel to western cities to learn about, or rework their

political systems. Thus neo-colonial mentality was not

accidental; it was deliberately ingrained in the consciousness of

African nationalism Basil Davidson (2000: 13) called it “advisory

democracy” to enable neo-colonialists retain levers of interest

and influence.

6.0.6 Retention of Colonial Frontiers

Similar consideration made the former colonial masters to prefer

the “moderate and responsible” nationalists to become the

favoured recipients of power vacated by Europeans. But the

“radicals” and malcontents”, who saw the dangers of “neo-

colonialism, nation-statism” and pressed for inter-territorial

federalism for Africa, were carefully identified, and often

prevented from assuming power. Because the moderates were eager

to assume power, they accepted the frontiers of colonial

partition, and embraced the idea of fragmented nation – states.

This was how neo-colonial intrigues laid the political foundation

favourable for the sustenance of its interests in Africa.

6.0.7 Acceptance of Language of Domination

An uncritical view of the imposition of foreign language may be

considered merely as a cultural aspect of neo-colonialism. It

however has a deeper political connotation. The unwritten law of

the decolonization process in Africa was that new nationalists

had to be fluent in at least one European language particularly

that of the colonial master, as well as the culture and history

of that language (Davidson 2000: 106). This was a pre-requisite

before an African could be considered as having been

“mordernised” or westernized, without which he was not qualified

for political leadership in independent Africa. This was to

demonstrate the unbroken chain between the colonial era and the

present era, the use of language as a weapon of political

domination, and to further re-classify Africans today as

“Anglophone,” Francophone or Lusophone.

Apart from the imposition of foreign languages as the lingua

franca in most African states, including some North African

States where there has been a strong Arab language renaissance,

the use of language in a non – innocent form, began with the dawn

of colonial rule in Africa.

When Europeans came on their expeditions, they claimed to have

“discovered” a “Dark” continent, as if Africa never existed

before they came, and with all the connotations the label dark,

or black suggest.

Africans were also “pacified” when colonial rule stopped “inter-

tribal” wars, as well as the urgency to “westernize” the

“natives” so as to “detribalize Africans. The import of this was

to portray the Europeans as the standard of humanity, to which

Africans, even after independence must aspire. As argued by

Iweriebor (1997:63) the designation of Africa, along with Asia as

third world includes “assumed political, social, cultural, and

probably even mental underdevelopment, each of which has its

descriptive sub-categories.”

The idea of second liberation of Africa from neo-colonial grip

which is being canvassed today is recognition of the limitations

of “Flag” independence and to dismiss as a fiction what Harold

Macmillan, a former British Prime Minister, described in 1960 as

“a wind of change” blowing across Africa. Kwame Nkrumah was to

later discover the emptiness of political independence without

economic freedom. He wrote: “political independence is but a

façade if economic freedom is not possible also (Nkrumah

1961:162)”.

6.0.8 Economic Aspect

Having succeeded in the political aspect, it was then easier for

neocolonialism to accomplish its economic object, and

consequently Africa’s sustained exploitation, dependence and

underdevelopment.

Neo-colonialism has therefore deepened African trade trap/gap,

unequal exchange as well as resource and wealth depletion. In an

article entitled “Looting Africa” in the Time magazine, its

authors acknowledged that the tradition which began when Africans

were “plundered by Slavers, its animals by Poachers and its

mineral wealth by Miners”, continues today under neo-colonialism

(Bond; 2006:55-56). Africa’s unfair integration into the

international capitalist system has also promoted export

dependence, and falling terms of trade; due to high levels of

price volatility, associated with primary production.

In the 1980’s, prolonged economic down turns forced many African

States to embrace Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) as a

strategy for recovery. Iweriebor described SAP as the “Highest

Stage of Neocolonialism”, because it was an attempt to re-

colonise African countries.

From Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda and other African countries where SAP

was accepted as neo-liberal orthodoxy, the programme converted

the states “into the executive agencies of Western imperialism”.

By accepting IMF package the sovereignty of these states was

therefore compromised through the activities of the IMF.

6.0.9 Military Aspect

Through military ties, neo-colonialism succeeded in enforcing and

consolidating its grips on African States. The military aspect of

triple – neo-colonial strategy was speedily affected in the early

1960s. Nkrumah (1967:XII) revealed that in 1966, there were

seventeen foreign air bases, nine naval bases, owned and operated

by members of the North Atlantic Organization (NATO) . In

addition, foreign military missions were established in Kenya,

Morocco, Liberia, Libya, South Africa, Senegal and Ivory Coast.

Key NATO countries also possessed three rockets sites, and atomic

testing range in North Africa.

In Nigeria, though Tafawa Balewa was forced by domestic pressure

to abrogate the Anglo – Nigerian Defence Pact, his and subsequent

Nigeria administrations depended on British military institution

(for example Sardhurst) for the training of the country’s

military officers. Balewa was not restrained in his patronizing

remarks about Britain: “we are grateful to the British officers

whom we have known, first as masters and then as leaders and

finally as partners, but always as friends “we shall never forget

our old friends”. Not a few post independence African leaders

were of this frame of mind. This mind set was critical in the

recolonization of Africa’s leadership, peoples and society, under

the invisible regime of neo-colonialism.

7.0 EFFECT OF POLITICAL ECONOMY OF NEO-COLONIALISM5

7.0.1 DEPENDENCY

An economy is dependent to the extent that its position and

relations to other economies in the international system and the

anticipation of its internal structure make it incapable of auto

centric development. All the colonial economies of Africa were

heavily dependent by the criteria of this definition. Let us look

at some concrete manifestations of the dependence of Africa’s

colonial economies.

To begin with, there is the dependency of the monetary system of

a colony was invariably an extension of that of the metro pole.

Control of a colony’s reserve s and of the issue of currency

rested in the metro pole. Monetary dependence was essentially a

means of exploitation. For instance, the colonial banks mobilise

capital from African savings and loaned it to the European

businessman. These banks avoided giving loans to Africans.

Sometimes this discrimination against Africans was even given

legal sanctions. The exploitation of the colony’s money

dependence appears to have been done mainly through the

manipulation of the colony’s reserves and currency. In British

colonies the system worked like this. The local currency of the

colony issued by the West African currency Board (established in

1912) or The East African currency board (established in 1919)

was to be backed by sterling reserves held in Britain. Now, the

foreign exchange which the colony earned by the sale of its

exports was held in Britain. The British authorities then

authorised the issue of local African currency equivalent to the

foreign exchange earning. This amounted to the forcing the colony

to put its foreign exchange completely at the disposal of the

metropolitan country. By 1955 African’s sterling reserves in

Britain were $1446 million, which was more than 50% of the total

reserves of Britain and the commonwealth.

7.0.2 TECHNOLOGICAL DEPENDENCE

This is one of the most critical forms of dependence of the

colonial economy. The instrument of labour are critical factor in

the labour process, without instrument of labour man’s physical,

intellectual and psychological assets cannot do him much good in

meeting his needs. Without the instrument of labour man cannot

survive in spite of all that nature has to offer. Instrument of

labour are the vital link between labour power and the objects of

labour. It is instruments of labour which make it possible for

man to apply his labour power to the object of labour, and this

to harness nature to meet his needs.

Colonial Africa depended on the capitalist West for virtually all

her technology. This put the colonial economy in a position

analogous to that of a producer who has no instrument of labour.

It is precisely this helplessness that under lies the worker’s

exploitation by capital. Similarly, technological dependence

under lies the exploitation of the colonial economies by the

metropolitan economies

7.0.3 EXCHANGE

The capitalist class also subordinates and expropriates the

peasant through mechanisms of exchange, which it is able to set

up by the use of state power. These include crop grading. The

grading systems are able to use it as a means of appropriation of

surplus value. They can easily ensure that the peasant producer

gets much less than the value of his product. But the more

common and more effective form of subordination and expropriation

of the peasant producer in the sphere of exchange is the

compulsory marketing of products though monopolistic agencies

such as marketing Boards. To illustrate this, all of colonial

Nigeria’s four main export crops were collected and marketed

through marketing boards namely the Nigerian cocoa marketing

Board (1947), the Nigeria palm produce marketing Board (1949),

the Nigerian groundnut marketing Boar (1949), and the Nigerian

cotton marketing Board (1949). The arrangement proved profitable

to local and international capital that more and more commodities

were brought into the scheme. By 1954 the list of the commodities

controlled by the marketing Boards had grown to include palm oil,

sesame, soya beans, cocoa palm-kernels, benni seed, cotton and

groundnuts. The collection of the port and then handed them over

to the Nigerian produce Marketing company, which was a wholly-

owned subsidiary of the four Marketing Boards. It was this

company which arranged for the shipping and the sale of the

commodities overseas.

The official justification of the Marketing Boards is

interesting. It was claimed that the arrangement avoided the

price fluctuations during the buying season because the minimum

price payable was announced ahead of the buying season and must

be adhered to. This supposedly helped to stabilise the income of

the peasant producer and helped him to rationalize his

activities. It was claimed that the regulation of the quality of

commodities by the Marketing Boards, and the payment of higher

prices for better quality products gave the producer incentive to

produce better quality products and increase his earning power.

Finally it was claimed that the arrangement helped to protect the

peasant producer against the fluctuations in the world price of

their commodities. This was possible because the Marketing Boards

could pay less in seasons in which the world demand was strong by

putting some of the surplus in a buffer fund to be used to pay

more in seasons when the world demand might be particularly weak.

So the argument goes.

There is some truth in these arguments. That can be admitted

without prejudice to the fact that the thrust of the Marketing

Board arrangement was overwhelmingly exploitative. They paid the

peasant producer a small fraction of the valve of their product

in the world market. Groundnuts bought from producers for £15 per

ton by the West African produce Board sold for £110 per ton in

Europe. A ton of palm-oil bought from producers for £17 sold for

£95 in Europe. The scale of this exploitation can be deduced from

the following. In Nigeria in the mid1950s the commodities under

the control of the Marketing Boards amounted to 85% of the total

value of Nigeria’s agricultural exports, as well as 72% of her

total domestic exports. This means that the lion’s share of the

internal contribution to the development budget came from the

surplus extracted from the peasants by the Marketing Boards. The

extents of the expropriation become more impressive yet when it

is realised that the bulk of development expenditure in the post-

war period in Nigeria came from internal sources. According to

the Economic survey of Nigeria, 1959, of a total development

expenditure of £39.1 million, required for the period 1955 to

1962, £264 million or 78% was to come from internal sources.

Theoretically the large surplus appropriated through the

Marketing Boards was public revenue and not profit for the

capitalist class. However, much of it was appropriated by the

capitalist class through forms of investment which serviced

capitalist enterprises such as infrastructures. Also,

appropriation took place by using the surplus for projects from

which the capitalists benefited as contractors, etc.

7.0.4 UNDERDEVELOPMENT

The term underdevelopment is not the same as absence of, or lack

of development. There is never any nation in the world which has

never developed in one form or the order. The question however is

the extent of such development as it exists among other nations.

One thing to note is that development in human society has been

uneven and from a strictly economic view point some human groups

have advanced further by producing more and becoming morewealthy.

This situation thus brought about two terms developed and

underdevelopment among nations.

8.0 RECOMMENDATION / STRATEGIES TO COMBAT NEO-COLONIALISM

This analysis of neo-colonialism is not complete, if we fail to

recommend “a correct and global strategy” to defeat it. Therefore

the only way to discover and expose neo-colonial intrigues is to

examine the nature of the struggle for independence. If the

liberation movement is firmly established, the colonial power

invariably resorts to a “containment” policy in order to stop any

further progress, and slow or deaden its impact.

But the machinations of colonial power were bond to fail if the

nationalist leaders maintained a clear spirit of vigilance and

cultivated genuinely revolutionary qualities. The correct

strategy should be preventive in nature; aimed at preventing a

state from becoming a puppet or client state. But where neo-

colonialism has become established African states must unite and

deal with neo-colonialism on a pan-African basis, otherwise,

Euro-American forces will continue to undermine, selectively,

African core interest.

For obvious reasons, Kwame Nkrumah’s advocacy of a continental

union for Africa was unpopular in the early sixties. The reason

is not far fetched. Most African leaders were conscious and

jealous of their newly won independence and were not prepared to

compromise it in the name of African unity. But in this age when

efforts are being made to convert the barrier of colonial imposed

boundaries into a bridge of opportunities for cooperation among

nations, Nkrumah’s suggestion, in retrospect, has probably proven

to be too attractive an idea to be totally ignored. Indeed the

establishment of the African Union in 2001 is a step in this

direction.

CONCLUSION

Political economy of Neo-colonial States in its operations

modified the mechanism of direct control, for a more subtle, and

disguised strategy of manipulation of the economies of African

states. Consequently, exploitation is more efficient under neo-

colonialism while resistance to it elicits less mass support.

Before granting independence to African States, the colonial

masters took conscious steps to prepare the minds of Africans for

“Flag” independence, even if it would mean handing over power to

those who would collaborate with the Europeans in the

exploitation of Africa.

Neo-colonialism, otherwise called post-colonial dependency is a

major feature of most African states today. Neo-colonial

structure was deliberately put in place by the former colonial

masters to ensure that their vital interests were not endangered

in the newly independent African states. This was achieved

through many forms: economic links, military ties, and political

associations. African states were still largely dependent on the

West, particularly their erstwhile colonial master.

Whether it relied on the operations of multinational

corporations, unfair trade arrangements, or foreign aid

manipulation, neo-colonialism would not have succeeded if not for

the fertile ground provided for it by African political

leadership. Therefore, solutions to the problems created by neo-

colonialism can be found within, than outside Africa.

Dependency theorists therefore argue that, for Neo-colonial

States to develop, they must necessarily move away from the chain

of imperialism and ‘delink’ from the nations of capitalist west.

Then and only then can they be able to take their affairs and

destinies into their own hands, and do those things and produce

those goods and services which are needed for their own

development.

TABLE OF CONTENT

ABSTRACT

1.0. INTRODUCTION

2.0 DEFINATIONAL ISSUES

2.1 POLITICAL ECONOMY

2.2 DEFIATION OF NEO- COLONIALISM

3.0 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

4.0 COLONALISM

4.1.0 FACTORS THAT LEAD TO COLONIALISM

4.1.1 POLITICAL ECONOMIC REASONS FOR COLONIALISM

4.1.2 DEMAND FOR RAW MATERIALS

4.1.3 NEEDS FOR RAW MARKET

4.2.0 EXPLOITATION

4.2.1 MINERAL EXPLOITATION

4.2.2 LARGE SCALE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION

4.2.3 SMALL SCALE AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION

4.2.4 SUPPLY OF LABOUR

4.2.5 MIXED ECONOMIES

5.0 POLITICAL CONTROL OF COLONIAL AFRICA

5.1 INDIREC RULE

5.2 SYSTEM OF ASSIMILATION

6.0 NEO-COLONIALISM

6.0.1 ORIGIN OF NEO-COLOIALISM

6.0.2 FEATURES OF NEO-COLONIALISM

6.0.3 METHODS OF NEO-COLONIALISM

6.0.4 IMPACT OF NEO- COLONIALISM

6.0.5 POLITICAL ASPECT

6.0.6 RETENTION OF COLONIAL FRONTIERS

6.0.7 ACCEPTANCE OF LANGUAGE OF DOMINATION

6.0.8 ECONOMIC ASPECT

6.0.9 MILITARY ASPECT

7.0 EFFECT OF POLITICAL ECONOMY OF NEO-COLONIALISM

7.0.1 DEPENDECY

7.0.2 TECHNOLOGICAL DEPENDENCY

7.0.3 EXCHANGE

7.0.4 UNDERDEVELOPMENT

8.0 RECOMMENDATION/STRATEGIES TO COMBACT NEO-COLONIALISM

CONCLUSION

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