how the western rule came to an end in sub-Saharan Africa

how the western rule came to an end in sub-Saharan Africa

Group A: Africa: tell me how the western rule came to an end in sub-Saharan Africa, including South Africa. What obstacles have Africans faced since independence?

During the Second World War, Africans were involved in military service to their colonial masters. They fought together with them; they saw their weaknesses and the tactics that they used in the fight. When they came back, they realized that they could fight the Europeans and gain their independence, and immediately started to fight for their freedom. The process was not uniform across Africa, but different countries got their autonomy using different methods. In some places, the process was peaceful, while in others, it was an armed struggle.  In some areas, there was competition, for resources, free labor, and the vented interest made some countries such as the USA to push for decolonization so that they could benefit from the available resources. However, decolonization in most parts of Africa was achieved through a protracted struggle that made the European power to give the Africans self-determination.  In South Africa, the process of decolonization was complicated because there was high concertation of  European settlers (Marks). Decolonization was therefore carried out in stages. In some parts, independence was achieved through armed struggle, while in others, it was achieved through peaceful handovers.  South Africa was the last country to get her independence through a nonracial election in 1994after Britain was put under pressure by other countries to decolonize (Marks).

One of the problems that faced Africa after independence was the lack of energy.  Most of the African countries did not have the infrastructure to generate and transmit energy. Even countries that were rich in oil did not have refineries. This meant that even after independence, these countries still relied on their colonial powers for infrastructure. There was an issue of inexperienced leadership in the continent. Few leaders had the needed understanding to run the government and countries. Some of the leaders entered politics for the first time. Moreover, there was a lack of national identity. The boundaries that exist in Africa are the ones that were drawn by Europeans during the scramble and partitioning of Africa, which was done in disregard of the ethnic or the social landscape. Many people were grouped together irrespective of the social differences, which resulted in a lack of identity. The cold war was another challenge for African countries. The cold war between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) made it hard for the African countries which had to take sides. As a result, in some countries, such as Angola, this cold war led to the civil war that lasted for decades.

Group B: Far East: tell me how Mao Zedong challenged the soviet model and how did

Mao’s successors transform Chinese communism and make china a superpower?

Briefly trace the rise of postwar Japan and how the Japanese experience differed from

china.

Mao Zedong was among the reformist in the people’s republic of china. He had signed a peace treaty with the Soviet Union, and they were friends. The Soviet Union was the only socialist state that was existing at the time, and therefore China had to make friends so that it could learn from it. In particular, Mao envied the style of leadership of Joseph Stalin, who was the president of the Soviet Union. So when he became the leader, he wanted to follow his footsteps. Additionally, it was the only country where China could have received financial assistance. However, when Nikita Khrushchev becomes the leader of the Soviet Union, he led the country differently from Stalin and angered Mao, who chose a different course of action for his country. From this point, the Soviet Union ceased to be friends with China, and China had to choose some other allies such as Albania, Pakistan, and North Korea. Therefore, Mao started to move away from the Soviet model of socialism to a semi-socialist state where people could own land privately (China since 1949. The Mao Years and Post-Mao China).

Among the successors who brought significant change after the death of Mao is Liu Shaoqi, who was convinced that socialism is the way to go for the country. He oversaw the cultural transformation by allowing the importation of food to end the famine that was devastating people. He also entrenched foreign investment in the country, which resulted in a massive growth of the economy. Zhou Enlai was also a person who contributed significantly to the success of China. He was an excellent negotiator and forged foreign relations. He was able to slow down the excesses of the Cultural Revolution in China. He is credited for organizing the meeting with President Nixon of the United States.  

Post-War Japan rose significantly due to a combination of some factors. The wartime experience occasioned the growth of the industrial and manufacturing sectors in the country. Additionally, the policies of the United States towards Japan made the economy grow significantly. USA allowed Japan to export to the USA while still protecting its economy. The welfare society in Japan was also responsible for the rapid growth. The case was different from China, which did not encourage relations with the United States.

Group d: Russian federation: what problems did Post-communist Russia face

under Boris Yeltsin in the 1990s and how did Russia revive but move away from

democracy under Vladimir Putin after 2000.

Russia, under President Yeltsin, became independent and set on a new path to democracy and market economy. However, this was a new path, unknown to Russia, and this resulted in a lot of chaos and confusion in the country. The country did not understand how such a transformation could be implemented in the right way without adverse outcomes.  During the presidency of Yeltsin, Russia faced economic collapse that almost paralyzed its economy (Wachtel). The president had to come up with a strategy that would enable the country to regain from the fall in GDP to about one-sixth. The budget deficit in the country was almost a quarter of the GDP. The transition from a command economy to a market economy was marred by many difficulties that made it hard for the president to succeed. 

Yeltsin was faced with political and social challenges. He defeated Gorbachev in an attempted coup, and this made his popularity rise significantly (Wachtel). Though he had been known to be the face of economic reforms, his primary priority was to preserve his power and authority. Russian also faced a political challenge under the leadership of Yeltsin, who employed a divide and rule strategy, and this saw many factions rise to fight against each other. It was a grave situation where the leaders spent most of their time fighting each other as opposed to governing the nation. This made Yeltsin fail to form a political party or affiliate himself with any political group. The instability in the government made Russia lag in economic development. 

Since President Putin took over power in 2000, he has deliberately deviated from the democracy that Yeltsin was experimenting with. Putin brought economic prosperity in the country by making the GDP grow by 83 percent in his first two terms. The purchasing power of the people more than doubled, and he was able to revive the government spending in improving most of the state functions such as expanding the social welfare of the people and modernizing the military.  However, he consolidated his power on hope, and he was ready to destroy enemies, whether terrorists or democrats. Therefore, he reversed the democratic process initiated by Yeltsin amid economic success.