Panorama of Africa’s Underdevelopment and Its Antiquity Causes?

Abstract

The genesis emergence of underdevelopment in the African region compared to Asia, Western and Latin America is not a new phenomenon in development discourse and regional integration, but can be traced back to antiquity as a development crisis. Africa is the richest region in natural resources but is classified as a developing country. This is because internal and external historical events have led Africa down the path of underdevelopment. This is the main argument of this paper is that to trace this facts. There is growing evidence that colonialism and its legacy, the economic system and political interventions, slavery and the industrial revolution were the external historical events, while corruption, political instability and civil war, inadequate infrastructure, unemployment and lack of technology were the internal historical events that led Africa into underdevelopment. These historical events were interdependent and a curse to the development of the African people. Despite the above causes, the authors of this paper has found that there is still hope for Africa's development through the linkage of culture and development, emphasis on strong institutions in African states, technology transfer, and a strategic people-centered approach to development to position them in the capitalist world system in the region. Therefore, Africa must develop economic and social well-being, peace and security through the human development approach. The people-centered institutions and transformative leadership should be necessary to reduce corruption, poor governance, and underdevelopment in Africa and promote regional integration schemes.

Keywords: Africa, Development, History, Regionness, Underdevelopment

DOI: 10.7176/IAGS/100-02

Publication date:July 31^st 2023