Ndirangu Mwaura has degrees in sociology and history from the University of Nairobi. He lives in Nairobi; this is his first book to be published in the West.

The author analyzes modern African history to identify the reasons for conflict, economic collapse and other disasters, revealing a world of victims and executioners.

The process of...

The author analyzes modern African history to identify the reasons for conflict, economic collapse and other disasters, revealing a world of victims and executioners.

The process of selection and emphasis in history inevitably entails taking sides; this work is skeptical of governments whether domestic or foreign. Mwafrika tells the story of the brief but bloody 1997 war in Congo (Brazzaville) from the standpoint of the oil connection, not the ethnic aspect that is usually given broader coverage. Similarly, he presents the dismal objective results of various events that have been painted as cultural but the impact of which has been economic, and initiatives that have been promoted as being for the "welfare" of Africans while in fact worsening their plight.

The author strives to cover all major topics, problems and trends as they affect the central questions of poverty and inequality, and tries to anticipate a new future as well as to propose solutions.

Part One is an investigation of the historical roots of African underdevelopment.

Part Two traces the mechanisms by which poor African countries become trapped in their backwardness, including aspects of domestic and international politics which frustrate positive reform through political instability and war.

Development and underdevelopment are two terms that have found common usage in Africa. In Kenya, nearly all politicians plead their cases by promising to bring “development” to the people. Although there is no fixed meaning of the term, development can be described as the capacity to deal with the environment. The ability to fully comprehend science and apply this knowledge in the production of tools, which are then used to deal with the environment, is economic development1. An underdeveloped country is one which has an untapped potential for using more capital or more labor or more available natural resources to support its present population on a higher level of living.

Western propaganda uses the term “developing” instead of “underdeveloped” to describe Africa, in order to give the false impression that African countries are making progress, moving away from a state of economic backwardness, and that they are freeing themselves from the relationship of being exploited by the countries of Europe, North America and Japan — which is simply not true. In fact, exploitation of African countries increased in the last decades of the 20th century and first part of the 21st century, both in scope and degree. ...

INTRODUCTION 1

PART ONE: FACTORS HINDERING DEVELOPMENT 3

CHAPTER 1. NEOCOLONIALISM 5

CHAPTER 2. FOREIGN INVESTMENT 19

CHAPTER 3. LIBERALIZATION 31

CHAPTER 4. LACK OF LEADERSHIP 41

Sedar Senghor 45

Mobutu Sese Seko 46

Jomo Kenyatta 47

“Democracy” versus traditional structures 49

Others 51

CHAPTER 5. LACK OF CAPITAL 55

False economic theories 56

Loans and Aid 57

“AID” 77

The Repercussions of Aid 82

The solution 83

CHAPTER 6. UNDERPOPULATION 85

International policy on African population 88

Family planning 93

Diseases 96

Reducing food availability 103

Tainted water and food supplies 111

Poverty 113

Population and economy 113

Urbanization and economic development 125

CHAPTER 7. CHARACTERISTICS AND CONSEQUENCES OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT 129

Political and military weakness 129

Economic weakness 133

Mass poverty 135

Tribalism 138

CHAPTER 8. POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS TO THE ECONOMIC DILEMMA IN AFRICA 145

Ideologies 147

CHAPTER 9. THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY AND AFRICA 151

PART TWO: HOW NEOCOLONIALISM IS SUSTAINED 155

Introduction: sustaining neocolonialism 157

CHAPTER 10. RELIGION 161

How the European “Christian” church entrenches Neocolonialism 163

Church structure 164

Worship Aids 166

Religious follies 168

CHAPTER 11. EDUCATION 171

The education system 171

Language 173

Education content 176

Educating African students directly 180

Consequences of neocolonial education 183

Possible reforms 185

CHAPTER 12. CULTURAL IMPERIALISM 187

Television as a conduit of cultural imperialism 188

Radio as a conduit for cultural imperialism 189

The cinema as a conduit for cultural imperialism 189

The family 194

Hotels 197

Classic Western culture 197

The settler problem 199

Consequences of cultural imperialism 202

Misinformation 205

CHAPTER 13. MILITARY AND POLITICAL THREATS 207

Introduction 207

Civil Wars 208

Assassinations 209

Economic Destabilization 209

The UN as an Arm of Imperialism and Neocolonialism 210

EXAMPLES OF AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN INTERVENTION 211

Egypt 211

Nigeria 213

Zaire 215

South Africa 219

Angola 221

Mozambique 225

Libya 226

Kenya 229

Others 230

Sound Bite

A scholar from Nairobi decontructs the ways in which aid programs, trade, politics and imported culture are being grafted onto the historical roots of African underdevelopment. Neither a Marxist nor an apologist for capitalism, Mwaura shows neo-colonialism is still at work.

Sound Bite

A scholar from Nairobi decontructs the ways in which aid programs, trade, politics and imported culture are being grafted onto the historical roots of African underdevelopment. Neither a Marxist nor an apologist for capitalism, Mwaura shows neo-colonialism is still at work.