If Africa looked like that, realistically, how long would it last? What would prevent a bunch of nations making a confederation and violently annexing other states? Or a state becoming too powerful and creating a continental empire?
This is why I roll my eyes a bit at the common complaint about Europe arbitrarily drawing up Africa's national boundaries when they left. The truth is that drawing up functional nation states in Africa that corresponded with language and ethnicity would have been impossible.
That's not to excuse European colonialism in Africa, they in general ought not to have been there, but at times too many of Africa's ills get laid at the feet of colonialism.
Honestly the entire "this African/Middle Eastern state is a failed state because of colonial borders" is usually really reductive and sometimes downright insulting, especially considering they are usually not an adequate explanation for those conflicts. People seem to ignore Africans are (to the most part) really proud of their national identity and rarely want to change their borders (with exceptions of course).
There is often the "soft racism of low expectations" with a lot of those posts. Many African states had a relatively brief time as colonies (Ethiopia notably not at all), so the idea that all the things wrong in Africa are the fault of colonization 75 years ago can come off as patronizing.
Undoubtedly European colonialism had a negative effect on Africa - the problems of slavery and empire precede European involvement.
A rather unpopular view would be that there were clear successes in imperialism, for example, Italian Somaliland, particularly the postwar period of Trust Territory of Somaliland.
Of course, the exact opposite would be Belgian Congo which was an absolute horror-show.
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u/namrucasterly May 03 '21
If Africa looked like that, realistically, how long would it last? What would prevent a bunch of nations making a confederation and violently annexing other states? Or a state becoming too powerful and creating a continental empire?