To understand the
origin of dictatorship in third world countries, there is need to
look back at third world countries before dictatorship was an issue.
The question then is what led to the rise of dictatorship in third
world countries? Third world countries have a history of colonization
that left them with problems to deal with. Let's take Africa for
example, most countries have failed in recreating a western like
government also known as democracy. What happened was that, when
colonizers ( Europeans) came to Africa, Africans already had their
own kind of government. Most African countries had kingdoms. The
kingdoms were governed by kings and elders who had nearly all the
power. “The King's power was often based on his ability to collect
revenue and tribute, usually through the control of trade, and use
the army to defend his sovereignty” ("Unit
Two: Studying Africa through the Social Studies'').
In
the 1880's Europeans started colonizing and discovering Africa. Then
in 1984 to 1985, the Berlin conference took place. This conference
was started to end the disputes that were between European countries
over the boundaries of Africa that they controlled. Africa was
divided into 50 countries. The Europeans while dividing Africa didn't
consider the different tribes, ethnic groups or even traditions that
they might damage through this process. “ Before the conference,
80% of Africa remained under traditional and local control” (
"Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 to Divide Africa" ). After
the conference Europeans put up colonies with administrations that
they fully controlled. After decades of colonization, African culture
and traditions had fallen apart.
Europeans
started teaching or “civilizing” Africans by introducing them to
government. By the time colonization ended, Africa was left with no
good understanding of the way government works. “
Europeans had intellectual elites that were familiar with the ideas
of the Enlightenment and who resented being second class citizens in
European empires”. These African elites were the ones to transmit
their knowledge to people and to start the post colonial governments
("Military Dictatorships in Developing Countries").
How
was an elite who had never lived in democracy or even experienced it
supposed to start one? Europeans aftermaths on Africa were a
political geographic failure. Since After dividing Africa all
different tribes were found divided into different countries. There
was not that much nationalism in countries after colonization, every
tribe was trying to get the power. All those problems with the
addition that Africa lacked of democratic tradition, led to
dictatorship emerging in Africa. These problems led to people
struggling with the understanding of democracy that they had never
really experienced even when Europeans were colonizing and later to
dictatorship.
How
did all these problems lead to dictatorship? First before
colonization, Africa had kings and elders, the power was in their
hands which might be viewed as an older version of dictatorship. The
king would have the power to execute anyone who spoke against him or
said things that he disagreed with, which is like dictatorship.
Second despite the fact that Europeans taught to some African elites
their culture and the idea of enlightenment/democracy, Europeans
didn't rule their African colonizes as a democracy. Most Europeans
countries ruled their colonies as properties, so they could
basically enforce any rule without any African opposing and took
advantages of the resources that were in those countries. Third,
Africa division of tribes and groups into countries led to tribal
rivalry in countries. When a tribe was living in an area with more
resources, they would not share the resources with the other tribes
even when they were in the same country and were suppose to be a
nation.
Due
to the reasons mentioned above most post independent governments'
rulers ruled their countries as dictators as if they owned the
country, just as the European had done in colonization. A good
example for this would be DRC ( Democratic Republic of Congo). During
colonization DRC was the personal property of King Leopold because of
all the gold and resources that was found there ('' Shillington,
1989: 312; Meredith, 2005: 95'').Then in 1960's when DRC gained it's
independence, it was ruled by president Mobutu S. Seko who ruled as a
dictators and used the country's resources as if they were his
property. “ The exploitative character of the master-colony
relationship that reigned in the colonialism time continued in
different forms even after colonialism was long gone and continues to
impact contemporary African politics” ( "Post-Colonial
Colonialism"). With all these tribal problems too, dictatorship
was the best government since the president was voted by the stronger
and biggest group or tribe. Also the post colonialism government of
kingdoms can also be compared to dictatorship. Other tribes were not
happy, but they found a way to live under that government and this
kept the country stable to start development.
It
was not only in African third world countries that colonization lead
to dictatorship, this also happened in Latin America. In Latin
America when the Spanish arrived to take over, they wanted to replace
the native culture by their culture. Spanish came to Latin America
with the idea to promote Christianity and concur more land. Spanish
forced natives to learn a new religion and changed their culture
through that. Spanish new system promoted exploitation on the native
people although the native could complain to the court that they were
abused, the court was mostly in favor of the Spanish. Latin America
had an “existing power structure mostly based on castes and
nobility” but this system was divided and destroyed when the
Spanish arrived ("Latin American History: Introduction to the
Colonial Era''). During the reign of the Spaniard the most powerful
leaders had all their wealth taken away from them.
After
colonization, Latin Americans tried to regain their culture and
tradition but it was already lost. “The destruction of the
natives' whole cultures-in every sense-left the majority of the
population lost and struggling to find their identities, a struggle
which continues to this day” ("Latin American History:
Introduction to the Colonial Era). Most Latin American countries are
still trying to find their roots but also still have the Spanish
system of government entangled with their politics. An example would
be Cuba, Cuba's government is a “ communist authoritarian
dictatorship and police state” since January 1959 when the Castro's
brother took power. (''Latin American History).
Dictatorship
emerged in third world countries due to the events in their history.
Looking at the impact of colonization and their culture or tradition
structure, it can be said that democracy was hard to start. Since
before colonization the third world country had a structure where the
power was in one man's or groups' hand and the country was
prosperous. Dictatorship was close to that structure, it was the
right way to go.
MLA
Citations
- "Unit Two: Studying Africa through the Social Studies."Exploring Africa. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.
- Joy Asongazoh Alemazung,. "Post-Colonial Colonialism:."Journal Pan Africa. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Sept. 2013.
- "Latin American History: Introduction to the Colonial Era." About.com Latin American History. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Sept. 2013.
No comments:
Post a Comment