Westphalia state building in independent Africa

One key achievement of European colonialism is the attempt to introduce the institutions of Westphalia-model state to Africa. However, deprived of the imperative necessities for the development of a sound national spirit required for nations which have only recently come to self-consciousness, the modern state structure is not serviceable in Africa. Despite all that has been written about it, the failings of state-building in Africa remain widely misunderstood. Some, in particular the governments in the African state and their apologists, attribute it almost exclusively to external debacles. Others attribute it, almost entirely, to developmental policy failure. The paper argues, from the emblematic cases, that it is the product of an explosive mix of the two. The paper concludes that the unprogressive nature of the African state mirrors, among others, citizens' selective inaction but now, to move the continent forward, the African peoples must take proper ownership of their societies to forge responsive nation-states.