Facing Africa's Big Issues

...At first glance it seems to do too much...

...In less than 175 pages one is taken from the prehistory of Africa to a discussion of democracy's future on the continent...

...Americans and Europeans who are responsible for formulating and criticizing policy toward Africa may feel that some of the difficulties they face have been dealt with too easily or not at all, but Wallerstein does not claim to have solved these problems nor does he explore the balance of risks and advantages of basing national conduct on his interpretations...

...But what light does Wallerstein's proposition throw on the question of whether an association of all African states—or at least all Black African ones—is more desirable than smaller groupings reflecting economic, political, geographical or ideological affinities...

...Analyzing "the politics of independence" in the book's second half, Wallerstein first stresses the dominant role of leaders and independence parties—usually one per country—in the continuing governance of the new lands...

...Wallerstein's pages on "Africa and the World" will probably seem familiar to most readers, since essentially they are an explanation of neutralism, nonalignment and the desire of the African states to be somehow exempted from the cold war...

...And Wallerstein's sympathetic understanding is one of the things that make his book valuable to newcomers to Africa...

...This leads to the apparently logical conclusion that to the extent "that pan-Africanism fails, modernization too is set back...

...And he is very persuasive in making his "interpretation" seem to explain the facts...

...While hoping he is right, a critical reader may feel he has yet to be convinced why this is more likely than the strengthening of authoritarian regimes...

...He then goes fairly far in accepting the view that another kind of democracy, marked by consultation, popular participation and a broad consent that is not manifested in the familiar parliamentary and electoral ways, really exists in many African one-party systems...

...One can accept easily enough the idea that to become modern Africa must develop a social structure and division of power very different from those of colonial or tribal times...

...Whatever happens, this well-written book will have helped us see the issues more clearly...

...Though cautious in his phrasing, Wallerstein seems quite optimistic about the chances of more pluralistic societies developing and bringing with them more recognizably democratic institutions...

...I say "apparently" because the seemingly clear statement is in fact obscure...

...But with great daring, Professor Wallerstein announces that he is going to talk about all of Africa (though most of what he has to say applies to the independent states of the tropical region) and "the whole range of modern political developments" (though he rather slights economic development and some related matters...

...Of course, the experts will be after him on many points and laymen, too, may find themselves quarreling with some of the things that he says...

...Senior Research Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations This is the best introductory book on Africa I have read...

...After a tantalizing glimpse of the picture of pre-European Africa that is emerging from recent scholarship, the book moves into a solid block of chapters about Europe's impact on Africa...

...Another interesting chapter deals with cultural movements in Africa and stresses the nationalistic significance of demonstrating that African countries had histories before the Europeans came, and that there are distinctively African cultural characteristics...

...He manages to bring this off by making his book "an interpretative essay," rather than the kind of introduction that combines basic information about each country with a summary of recent events...

...He then turns to relations among the African countries, insisting that although pan-Africanism has meant different things at different times and is at the moment undergoing still another set of changes, it is still "the weapon of the modemizers...

...Here Wallerstein's emphasis is on the process by which colonialism produced an African elite which, in turn, reacted against colonialism and led the way to independence...

...He does a good job of explaining why one-party systems, strong leaders, and the abandonment or misuse of European democratic institutions have come naturally to Africa...

...Can Africa escape the re-enactment of hard struggles to wrest power from strong governments that have marked the history of liberty elsewhere...

...Indeed, experts like Immanuel -Wallerstein have repeatedly warned the rest of us that we shall be in trouble if we talk in such terms...

...Confine yourself to a few countries or a single problem, they say...

...While particular chapters contain some propositions that are contestable, the broad picture is one that would commend itself to a majority of articulate Africans...

...Everyone knows that you cannot generalize about Africa on that scale...

...Wallerstein will undoubtedly be in for some arguments about his last chapter, "Prospects for Democracy...

...There are facts here, to be sure, but in a sense what Wallerstein is dealing with are the big facts, not the little ones...