African Political Systems
in a Global Context
February 23
Atlantic Slave Trade and the
Triangular Trade
 From the mid-15th century to the late
19th century.
 Manufactured and trade goods (cloth,
metal goods, guns) from Europe to
Africa. Slaves from Africa to the
Americas. Produce from the slavelabour plantations (cotton, sugar,
tobacco, molasses, rum) to Europe.
Scramble for Africa
 Before 1880, European colonization of
Africa was quite limited (though South
Africa was one exception).
 At the Berlin Conference of 1884-85, the
European powers agreed to some ground
rules for to colonization and partition of
Africa.
 By 1914, the entire continent of Africa was
partitioned and colonized by Europeans,
except for Ethiopia and Liberia.
Independence
 Decolonization took place rapidly for
much of the continent.
 Ghana, 1957
 Thirty-two independent African
countries emerged in the decade after
1957.
Chris Allen,
“Understanding African Politics”
 Decolonization and Clientelist Politics
 Clientelist Crisis
 Crisis ‘Resolved’: Centralized-Bureaucratic
Politics
 The Centralized-Bureaucratic State
Challenged: Democratic Renewal
 Crisis Unresolved: Spoils Politics
 Post-Spoils Reconstruction: Populist Revolt
 Terminal Spoils: State Collapse and
Endemic Violence
South Africa: Colonization
 Dutch colonization, 1650s
 British annexation, 1806
 Discovery of diamonds in 1871 and gold in
1886
 Anglo-Boer War, 1899-1902
 Act of Union, 1910 created a self-governing
Dominion within the British Empire.
South Africa: Makings of Apartheid
Legal foundation of racial discrimination
and segregation:
 Mines and Work Act, 1911
 Land Act, 1913
 Native Urban Areas Act, 1923
 National Party elected and Apartheid
introduced, 1948
The Apartheid Regime
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The Population Registration Act, 1950 classified every
citizen into one of four racial categories: African, coloured,
Indian or white.
Strict segregation of public facilities and residence through
homelands, townships
Travel controlled through pass laws and influx controls
An extremely segmented labour market, with huge wage
gaps and opportunities limited and tightly controlled for
Africans
Sharpeville massacre, 1960
Banning of African National Congress and Pan-Africanist
Congress, 1960
Nelson Mandela imprisoned 1962 (released in 1990)
Soweto uprising, 1976
Next Week
 The struggle against apartheid
 The release from prison of Nelson
Mandela, 1990
 The transition to democracy and the
election of the African National
Congress, 1994
 Assessing post-apartheid South Africa