Africans have had difficulty developing a sense of nationalism because the boundaries of their countries were determined by Europeans at the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885. Those lines cut across tribal and linguistic locations, so that tribes got separated and pieces of tribes got thrown in with other pieces of tribes, forming unnatural configurations. No African was present at the Berlin conference, and none were consulted.

Democracy was developed in a very different place from Africa. One wouldn’t expect the flora and fauna of the northern hemisphere to flourish in the Global South; the climate, soil, etc., are far too different. Yet, Westerners expected their political institutions, values, and traditions, painfully developed over centuries, to be quickly and easily transplanted in vastly different places.

First of all, Africans, over millennia, developed their own traditions and are proud of them. They do not see that ours are inherently superior. And why should they? They know what works for them, and they can readily see we have problems of our own.

Secondly, the Africans have had difficulty developing a sense of nationalism because the boundaries of their countries were determined by Europeans at the Berlin Conference of 1884-1885. Those lines cut across tribal and linguistic locations, so that tribes got separated and pieces of tribes got thrown in with other pieces of tribes, forming unnatural configurations. No African was present at the Berlin conference, and none were consulted.

Thirdly, colonialism had a mixed-bag effect. It brought benefits such as clinics, schools, and suspension of tribal wars. But it also appropriated land held by peoples for generations and in many places caused social disintegration (read Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart or Alan Paton’s Cry the Beloved Country). For most of sub-Sahara Africa, colonialism was but a brief episode – ca. 1890 to ca. 1960 – the lifetime of one person. This was not enough time to let the Western ways sink in.

Fourthly, Africans tend to vote according to tribe or geographic location, not ideological compatibility. The African, living in the margins, may think he hates everything that such-and-such candidate stands for, but he will vote for him anyway, because the candidate’s brother-in-law comes from his village, and if he takes office, he may bestow favors upon the village.

Westerners wonder why Africans will tolerate a brutal, greedy, rapacious dictator. Wouldn’t they rather have a democratic leader who respects human rights? But have you ever studied Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (I think I had it in every course I took in college)? The first level is physiological; people need food, water, air, etc. But the second level is safety. They need to be protected from robbers. In a poverty-infested environment, crime is ubiquitous. Brutal dictators establish police states which in turn keep down crime. People then feel safer. Abstract concepts like liberty and freedom are luxuries they can’t afford.

So don’t expect Western-style liberal democracy to sweep across Africa in the very near future. The necessary prerequisites must be developed first. And they must be developed by the Africans themselves, not well-intentioned outsiders.

Larry Brown is a minister in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, a member of Central South Presbytery, and serves as Professor of church history, world history, hermeneutics, and missions at the African Bible College in Lilongwe, Malawi.