PATHWAYS TO AFRICA'S DEVELOPMENT AND THE OPTION OF “DELINKING”: A THEORETICAL APPROACH

Abstract

Most African countries even after attaining political independence many years ago
remain (underdeveloped) as they were under colonial rule, and are in constant search
for the pathways to development. They have been driven by the two hitherto
ideological blocs vis capitalist and socialist all in search for an ideal path to
development. Their dissatisfaction with these two contending and often conflicting
politico-economic prescription for development, led scholars, intellectuals, and
analysts in the third world and Africa in particular to come up with the idea of
“delinking” from the international capitalist system. This paper relied on secondary
sources in generating data for the study. The paper is structured into different but
interrelated compartments, and tries to extrapolate from the various explanations of
both modernization and underdevelopment theories and find a workable and lasting
solution to Africa's economic backwardness. The paper supports the idea of Africa
delinking from the international capitalist economy as all efforts by African leaders
in various strategies, blueprints and development plans failed due in part to external
forces perpetuated by globalization and neo-liberal ideas. Africa should therefore
look inward and re-organize its political as well as economic structures in a way that
suits its internal composition.