Toyin Falola: The military and postcolonial nation-building in Africa
The era of military regimes seems to be over in many African countries, although the possibility of future coups cannot be ruled out. Post-colonial Africa was dominated by military regimes that defined the notions of nationalism, nation-state and identities. The military presided over the transition from colonial authoritarianism to postcolonial dictatorship. Extreme cases in Uganda, Zaire, Liberia and Sierra Leone led to civil wars; and so-called moderate regimes generated serious instability as well. The presentation will highlight the linkages between military regimes and processes of nation-building, the emergence of multiple and competing identities, the fragmentation of nationalism, the privileging of raw political power over economic development, and the rise of civil societies in the 1990s.