Colin Legum. Africa Since Independence. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1999. 105 pp. $27.95, cloth, ISBN 978-0-253-33588-3.

Reviewed by David Gordon

Published on H-Africa (May, 2000)

When I agreed to review Colin Legum's latest period of "realism" that recognized the impor‐ book, I expected a tome of at least three hundred tance of democratic governance and modest eco‐ pages. Africa since independence, after all, is a nomic development programs which did not sub‐ broad subject with a vast literature. I was pleas‐ ordinate rural to urban economies. Finally, antly surprised when a book of 105 pages (includ‐ Legum asks whether contemporary Africa has en‐ ing index and notes) arrived on my desk. Indeed, tered a period of "renaissance", as South African the great advantage of Legum's work is president Thabo Mbeki claims. Legum describes unashamed brevity. Only a scholar who has writ‐ Africa's political journey as a maturation from in‐ ten about and engaged in African politics for nocence through the idealism of youth to the mea‐ nearly ffty years would dare be so forthright sured sobriety of adulthood. about his passion. Legum is at his best when describing the Africa Since Independence is drawn from a se‐ "youth" -- the early nationalists with whom he ries of lectures delivered at the Institute for Ad‐ sympathized and often knew personally. Jomo vances Studies at Indiana University in Blooming‐ Kenyatta, Julius Nyerere and Kwame Nkrumah ton. Each of the four chapters identifes the spirit feature prominently, but Legum could have of a decade since independence. Legum begins drawn more extensively on his archive of experi‐ with the "romantic period" from 1939 to 1970, ences with these leaders. Occasionally, Legum when a generation of young politicians led Africa seems a little too sympathetic: describing Ny‐ to independence. The decade between 1970 and erere's "ujamaa" as "the only successful agrarian 1985 was one of "disillusionment", when African revolution in Africa" (p. 28) raised my guard. states failed to deliver greater economic benefts Moreover, his description of elite politics needs and with a few exceptions enforced non-demo‐ much unpacking. He divides the frst generation cratic forms of government. Beginning in the late into conservatives (including among others Sen‐ 1980s, Legum argues, Africa embarked on a new ghor, Kenyatta, Haile Selassie and Houphouet- H-Net Reviews

Boigny), radicals (Azikiwe, Nyerere, Mboya, ments. It does not have the polemical force of, say, Obote, Kaunda, Tour and Mondlane) and militants Basil Davidson's The Black Man's Burden.[1] In a (Nkrumah, Modiba Keita, Machel, Mugabe, sense, this is to Legum's credit. While African Cabral). Besides their willingness to cooperate politicians promise the unattainable and western with Moscow or Washington, which had far more political scientists make a living out of their to do with vicissitudes of decolonization, these di‐ doomsday predictions of "failed" states, Legum's visions did not correspond to proclaimed ideolo‐ analysis is sober and cautionary without being gies or concrete practices. In another instance, pessimistic. His work is the harbinger of a "mid‐ Legum lumps Patrice Lumumba and Nelson Man‐ dle-aged" Africa, stumbling along, with stories of dela together in a group of leaders who "began as hope and despair. radicals and ended up as reformers because of Note their experiences in the struggle." (pp. 38-9). This [1]. Basil Davidson, The Black Man's Burden: makes too great a generalization of "the struggle" Africa and the Curse of the Nation-State (London: and individual "experience"; moreover, Lumum‐ James Currey, 1992). ba never quite had the chance to become a "re‐ former". Copyright (c) 2000 by H-Net, all rights re‐ served. This work may be copied for non-proft I was even less satisfed with the lack of ex‐ educational use if proper credit is given to the au‐ planation for the failure of the "young" nation- thor and the list. For other permission, please con‐ states. The most important question of post-inde‐ tact [email protected]. pendence African politics remained untackled: What drove nearly all of these leaders, conserva‐ tive or radical, to autocratic policies? >Moreover, Legum does not explore the characters, motiva‐ tions or ideologies >of the second generation of African leaders -- the likes of Chiluba, >Museveni, Obasanjo, Rawlings, Meles Zenawi and Kagame. Are we to expect >anything better from them? A crucial question, if we accept Legum's >contention that Africa has entered a new era of political mat‐ uration. Legum's short volume devotes a few para‐ graphs to the social, environmental, cultural and economic transformations in Africa since inde‐ pendence. The challenge of ethnic identities to the new nations is a concern that runs through all the chapters. Yet the analysis of these contentious and debatable issues is rather short and superfcial. One almost wishes he had stuck to a study of elite politics and politicians. Legum's book is a lucid overview for those unfamiliar with the contours of post-indepen‐ dence African politics. Unfortunately, it occasion‐ ally lacks nuance and lapses into familiar argu‐

2 H-Net Reviews

If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at https://networks.h-net.org/h-africa

Citation: David Gordon. Review of Legum, Colin. Africa Since Independence. H-Africa, H-Net Reviews. May, 2000.

URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=4078

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

3