THE POLITICAL ASPECT OF CULTURAL CONDITIONS FOR THE AFRICAN UNION'S FUNCTIONING

• Authors: Kownacki P.
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The author's aim was to present the political organization of the African Union's society and to clarify the reasons for the failure of democratization in Africa. He claims that social cohesion and mobilization in African reality has a different context than in the reality of highly-developed Western states. Establishment of the African Union met with numerous interpretations concerning the effectiveness of its mechanism. Though the African Union was programmed as a political commonwealth modeled on the general political framework of the European Union, it reflects a different process of development of its component sub-communities. While establishment of the European political commonwealth was preceded by creation of the economic and social communities, the African political commonwealth is aimed at initiating and supporting the economic and social communities which facilitate the strengthening of the continental unity. Democratization was to be one of the elements of the civilization-bearing mission coming from the Western world, whose political patterns were presented as universal. Two aspects of African democratization are related to the process of decolonization and modernization. From the very beginning it was pointless to expect in the African reality any analogy to the European reality. The increasing economic involvement of the African state followed first of all from the specifics of the society, which had not yet completed the process of the transition from the tribal society to the civic society. In African states, the society did not yet exhibit full individuality in undertaking economic activity in the newly established state space. Another aspect of African democratization is related to globalization. The policy of African governments in the modernization period was based on the belief in durability of the bipolar model of global political constellation. After the breakdown of the bipolar system of international relations the earlier diversification of the world economy gradually disappeared, and its globalization progressed. Such a change influenced the situation in African countries implying the necessity to accept the breakthrough and to open the economic space in the face of the growing freedom of capital flow. The enforced democratization in African states met both with approval and contestation. African criticism of the democratic procedure points out the external origins of democracy as a political system derived from foreign philosophy, having little in common with African reality. The African commonwealth hopes now to find support in the external environment. However, the regress of the Western open society undermines its promotional ability to enforce and support financially the democratic processes initiated in Africa.

Keywords

EN

AFRICAN UNION; DECOLONIZATION; DEMOCRATIZATION; GLOBALIZATION

Discipline

• POLITICAL_SCIENCES: POLITICAL SCIENCES

• Publisher: Instytut Kultur Śródziemnomorskich i Orientalnych PAN
• Journal: Hemispheres. Studies on Cultures and Societies
• Year: 2005
• Issue: 20
• Pages: 109-119
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Kownacki P.

• P. Kownacki, Zaklad Krajów Pozaeuropejskich PAN, ul. Nowy Swiat 72, 00-330 Warszawa, Poland

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

06PLAAAA01232819