Africa: African Socialism And Rural Change

In much of East and Central Africa any marked increase in the standard of living requires radical social change. Colonial governments were concerned for the most part with administration rather than economic development and were reluctant to attempt such changes. Sometimes, as with compulsory culling of cattle in Tanganyika or compulsory terracing of land in Kenya to arrest soil erosion, the promotion of social change by the colonial regime provided a powerful weapon for rising African nationalists. One of the most crucial tests of independent African governments will be their ability and willingness to undertake the planned introduction of social change in rural areas. In spite of the African predilection for one-party states to control and limit opposition, independent African governments have so far been reluctant to undertake unpopular but desirable measures or to use compulsion.

Traditional African societies are intensely conservative and many are not suited to gradual c...