The Impact of Big Dictators in Africa
Africa has been a hotbed for violence, unfair human treatment, and political power grabs since colonization began with the Berlin conference of 1885. This split Africa into sections that would be colonized by each European country, and held no regard for any pre existing settlements as the only important thing to the leaders was resources. Governments and systems were soon established, and Africa began spilling out resources to literally and figuratively fuel Europe's industrial fires. In this process Europe superimposed its culture onto the African natives, some of whom were initially resistant but eventually had to succumb to the European powerhouses. Europe held control over the African colonies until, in the 1950s and 60s, revolts against the neglectful European governments began and colonies began gaining their independence one by one. The problem with these coups was when the European government was removed, it's infrastructure was still there and the rebels didn't have a plan for a definitive government. This resulted in the seizure of power by warlords and charismatic dictators, who tyrannically ruled their countries and turned parts of Africa into a hostile military controlled environment.
Many African governments are corrupt and unfavorable to citizens, which results in an imbalance of wealth in the country. Many of these countries have a huge percentage of the population below the poverty line, and may not have access to aid like food, water, shelter, and medical supplies. There has been some attempt by the UN at supplying these citizens with the proper necessities, however most of these are stolen or hijacked by government forces before they can get to civilians. Because of this, the dictator's power grows increasingly, but the rest of the country fall behind. The government is unwilling to spend large amounts of money on civil works, so many citizens are left to fend for themselves amidst the tyrannical rule of the dictator. This limits the potential for the population of the country to grow as a whole, therefore little progress is made to catch up to the widening gap of modernization of the rest of the world.
Africa's outlook is difficult to say as of the current state of affairs, however this is not a problem that will suddenly fix itself. Eventually people will become intolerant of the current dictator and revolt, leading to the either exile or execution of that dictator. However, due to the fact that there was no plan after the revolution much like in the rebellions agains Europe, another dictator, usually the general with the most power in the revolution, will replace the previous one and the cycle will begin anew. This means that there will be a continuous cycle of dictators in Africa barring an abnormality. However the UN is attempting to intervene with this as much as possible, so it is possible to set up a stable country with an reliable government. For example, after the Charles Taylor was overthrown in Liberia, the UN sent in peacekeeping forces to enforce the ceasefire after the second Liberian Civil War.
All of the current problems with dictators were ultimately a result of the failing of the post colonial governmental system, resulting in the gaining of power by dictators across Africa. If a single point in history could change to avoid this current situation, it would be at this time. Because the rebels were concentrated on winning the war, they were unable to plan for how to change an inherited governmental structure and keep the country stable. Had Europe peacefully conceded all of the colonies to their respective freedom groups, the emerging countries could have possibly had aid in establishing a firmer system of government and had backing to fend off warlords' power grabs. This would have resulted in counties becoming more modernized and self sustaining in the absence of a warlord sucking up all of the countries resources. Had Africa been able to stop dictators coming into power after the revolutions against Europe, Africa would currently be much more developed and would be continuing to grow with the rest of the globe. If we were to solve this problem in the modern day by somehow magically removing the dictators, Africa could start the path to recovery and modernization. Given the current state of Africa, if the dictators were to be removed there would still be the structure of power left behind, which would need to be stabilized by the UN before another dictator could come into power. Once this was accomplished, Africa could begin receiving foreign investment and start building things like better public access facilities and improve living conditions for those desperately in need of help. After the long process of rebuilding each country was complete, Africa could begin working on updating its technology, industry, and economy to modern standards. Because there would no longer be dictators abusing resources, countries could use their wealth of resources to begin the process of modernization.
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