| Abstract: | Ethnic affiliations and divisions have come to pose serious challenges to the strengthening of civil society and the quest for nationhood in Africa. While ethnicity was employed by the colonial state to divide the colony and weaken the nationalist movements, post‐colonial regimes and governments have manipulated ethnic differences to consolidate their control over society and promote exploitative relations of power, production and exchange. The limited hegemony of the post‐colonial state, its inability to meet the basic needs of the vast majority, and its heavy reliance on violence and coercion to maintain control, make it very ‘irrelevant’ to the existential conditions of the vast majority. While ethnic identities continue to pose challenges to efforts at growth, development and political stability, largely because the masses have increasingly identified with primordial institutions in the absence of a democratic and strong state, current conditions of debt, drought, poverty, inflation and other pains imposed by the structural adjustment programmes will continue to weaken the state and strengthen the relevance of ethnic associations and identities. The opening up of the political processes, emphasis on the politics of consensus and accommodation, the democratization of society and empowerment of mass‐based organizations remain the only ways to contain the divisive influences of ethnic politics and identities in Africa. |
