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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
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
The Rise of Nationalism
 Goal was independence
 Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972) formed the Convention People’s
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
Kwame Nkrumah and Jomo
Kenyatta
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
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
Political and Economic
Conditions in Contemporary
Africa
 Initial phase of pluralistic governments gave way to a series of
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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
The Search for Solutions
 Tanzania
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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
The Search for Solutions
(cont.’d)
 Nigeria
 Africa’s 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
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
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
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
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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 Thiong’o (b. 1938), A Grain of Wheat
 Wole Soyinka (b. 1934), The Interpreters
 Women writers
 Ama Ata Aidoo (b. 1942), Changes: A Love Story
 Music
Chinua Achebe and Ama Ata
Aidoo
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 West’s 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
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
 Arabs back Nasser of Suez Grab
 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
©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license.
The Modern Middle East
Arab-Israeli Dispute
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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
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Hard-line prime minister, Ariel Sharon
Suicide attacks
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)
 Shi’ite 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
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
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
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
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
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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
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
©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license.
Modern Islam, 1998
Women and Islam
 Traditional role of women in Islamic societies
 Modernist views that Islamic doctrine not opposed to
women’s 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
Literature and Art
 Cultural Renaissance
 Iran one of the most prolific countries
 The veil (chador) a central metaphor in Iranian women’s
writing
 In Egypt the most illustrious writer is Naguib Mahfouz
who wrote Cairo Trilogy
 Art
 Influenced by Western culture
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?