Review of History and Political Science

“Crisis of Citizenship and Nationhood in Africa: Reflections on Hegemony and the State
Mojibayo Fadakinte, Ph.D; Babatunde Amolegbe, MPA, M.Sc

Abstract
One major challenge which post-colonial Africa faces, today, is crisis of citizenship and nationhood, which this paper attempts to explain by arguing that Africa is made up of countries where none is a nation that is made up of one people. Therefore, in post-colonial Africa, the remarkable and fundamental differences in character, attitudes, habits, feelings and ways of life of the different peoples that make up a country, create a situation where the differences make the peoples to be antagonistic and bitterly hostile to each other, especially in their struggle for power and control of resources. This paper therefore interrogates the idea of hegemony and the state, how their nature and character accentuate the crisis of citizenship and nationhood and how the dynamics of colonialism and colonial rule continue to “terrorize” post-colonial Africa, because hegemony and the state that ought to unite the peoples and build a nation are bedeviled with internal crisis. In conclusion, the paper suggests that the constitution of each African country should make provision for each nation to have the opportunity for self determination.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/rhps.v5n1a7