The Bi-Polar World System and the Contradictions of African Independence: A Retrospective Reflection

Abstract

The Cold War International system which polarized Europe and other world continents into two hostile camps: the West dominated by the United States and the East by the Soviet Union after 1945 had profound implications on African security, stability and independence. As response to Cold War diplomacy, Africa and other emergent states in the international system formulated the non-aligned movement as a way out of the ideological posturing of superpowers. Poverty and ideological deficiency undermined the non-aligned movement which states flirted between the two camps with dangerous consequences to the stability of their nation-states. African states which pursued independent paths to modernity and prosperity were either denied, neglected or destabilized; while others compromised their independence, collaborated with the forces of imperialism and became arrowheads in the hands of capitalist predators. This paper attempts an overview of the bi-polar world system and its implications for United States policy towards Africa between 1945 and 1990. Inter-alia, the paper posits that the continued chase for a place in the orbit of occidentalism from idealist viewpoint rather reinforces dependency than reconcile the contradictions of underdevelopment. The paper also decries the ideological deficiency and reechoes the call for African development to be anchored on an ideological beacon as a sure way of giving succor to its independence.