From time to time, as the internal situation explodes in some African countries, as we witnessed recently in Sudan and before that, Ethiopia; A question that has been asked for a long time resurfaces: However, it had not been answered until then: Could federalism be the ideal solution to the problem of national integration that afflicts African societies with ethnic and racial pluralism?
The problem of national integration and nation building; Or what is called the “identity crisis.” One of the most complex problems facing the African country after independence, given the difficulty of finding a solution to it. It is difficult for the political body to achieve the degree of stability that enables it to face all other problems.
This problem is worse in African countries than in other countries of the world, despite the fact that two-thirds of African countries are sub-Saharan and each of them has a population of no more than five million people. However, some of them include within their borders more than a hundred ethnic groups, so much so that half of the world’s languages are African languages.
All of this has made the majority of African countries face the problems of strengthening the sense of national belonging and embodying the concept of citizenship among the vast majority of their ethnic groups, which differ from each other in language, culture, religion, values, and even social and political institutions.
Which eventually led some of them to move towards federalism. Is federalism the solution? So that we can answer this question; We must first define federalism and learn about the circumstances of its emergence in African countries.
Federalism and its experiences in Africa
Federalism is a political system based on building complementary relationships between provinces, ethnicities, or nationalities within a state or several states linked by a central union, provided that this union is based on recognition of the existence of a central government for all federal states, and self-government for the states or provinces into which the state is divided. The distribution of powers shall be between the regional governments and the central government.
The federal state essentially reconciles two trends, the first of which is; It is the federal trend emerging from factors calling for unity, and the second: It is the separatist trend emerging from factors derived from the desire of peoples and groups to enjoy the greatest degree of independence.
The roots of federalism in Africa go back to the period after independence from colonial powers, when a number of independent countries in Africa established federations with their neighbors.
In 1959; Senegal and French Sudan (present-day Mali) joined to create the Malian Federation. In 1953; The federations of Rhodesia (present-day Zambia and Malawi) and Nyasaland (present-day Malawi) were established. In 1972; Libya and Egypt joined Syria to establish the Union of Arab Republics. In 1952; Eritrea joined Ethiopia in the United Nations. The Federal Republic of Cameroon was established in 1961, bringing together French and British Cameroon, which had been under a single German colonial administration before World War I.
However, these federal experiences in Africa did not last long. The Mali Union collapsed before the second anniversary of its founding, the Union of Arab Republics was in its fifth year when it was abolished in 1977, and the Rhodesian Union lasted from 1953 to 1963. Thus, the first experiments with federalism failed to flourish and take root in Africa.
In this context; It can be said that most sub-Saharan African countries resorted, after independence, to a differentiation between two types of integration to solve the problems that those countries suffered from at the time: sectarian integration and functional integration.
Although the majority of African countries have resorted to sectarian integration, which basically involves adopting a policy based on trying to assimilate other ethnic groups within the framework of the ruling ethnic group, even if this requires resorting to the use of violence, this type of integration has not succeeded in countries. Africanism implemented it in an attempt to assimilate all ethnic groups in the country.
Hence, functional integration emerged in Africa as a practical solution to the problem of pluralism, as it preserves the territorial unity of the state while achieving a balance of interests between all groups and regions of the state.
Some African countries began to believe that the federal experiment was not given the opportunity to develop and was being destroyed from its beginning. Controversy emerged over federalism and centralization and the suitability of each of them to the conditions of the African continent. Many of these countries tried again to highlight federalism again in their political and constitutional landscape.
It was among the African countries that implemented federalism. Sudan 1956, Nigeria 1963, Comoros 1975, Ethiopia 1995, South Sudan 2011, and Somalia 2012.
This prompted discussion about the extent of this political system’s ability to reform African systems based on centralization and suffering from a complex set of crises related to identity and sectarianism.
Here two aspects of federalism appeared in Africa: the first: Being the appropriate solution to the fragility of states: it is able to provide appropriate solutions to the problem of the weakness of the African state due to a group of political and economic factors, in light of the inability to improve economic conditions and achieve the development that these countries seek.
In many African countries, the influence of the state has disappeared, perhaps in their most important regions, by dividing the national sphere into different economic regions, each of which contains great wealth (mineral, agricultural, oil, etc.) that is exploited by monopolists or foreigners, while the state controls part of the lands. Another section is subject to the armed opposition, where each region is administered independently, commensurate with its economic, political, diplomatic, and military interests.
The federal system can combine the elements of bringing peace to a number of countries on the continent, with better management of the affairs of its internal regions, if it adopts an appropriate method.
Secondly; The risks it carries of the disintegration of the national sphere: The opportunities for adopting a federal system are linked to the nature of African countries and the structure of their institutions. Although the goal of federalism is to create a unified system based on decentralization, this form of government can pose risks related to identity, by establishing a pattern of development. And an administrative system built on sectarian foundations.
Thus, federalism has emerged with a set of advantages versus a set of disadvantages and balancing them is the deciding factor in answering the question of the extent of federalism’s ability to achieve national integration.
Advantages and disadvantages of federalism
Regarding the advantages of federalism in Africa, some advantages have been observed, including: decentralization; Federalism decentralizes power from the central government to state governments, which may help reduce the dominance of the central government and encourage more local decision-making.
accommodate diversity; Africa is home to broad ethnic, linguistic and cultural diversity, and federalism can help accommodate diversity by allowing autonomous regions to govern themselves and make decisions that reflect their unique needs and values.
Strengthening participation; By granting more independence to the states; Federalism can promote greater citizen participation in government, giving people a greater voice in decisions that affect their lives.
On the other hand, a number of defects were observed in federalism in Africa. Among them: fragmentation; Federalism can lead to fragmentation, as a result of each state or region working in its own interests rather than working together for the common good of the entire country, which can lead to conflict and division.
incompetence; With power distributed across multiple levels of government, it can be difficult to coordinate policies and make decisions efficiently, which can ultimately lead to bureaucratic inefficiency and slow progress on important issues.
consolidation of dominance; In some cases, federalism can empower some states or regions at the expense of others, leading to uneven development and economic inequality. In addition; It can be difficult for the central government to maintain control and authority when power is distributed across multiple levels of government.
Conclusion
Whereas federalism is a system of government in which power is divided between a central government and political units such as states or provinces; They are often seen as a solution to problems of national integration in pluralistic societies because they allow greater autonomy and self-determination for subnational groups while maintaining a sense of national unity.
And in Africa; Federalism has been implemented in some countries, most notably Nigeria and Ethiopia, with varying degrees of success.
While federalism can help address issues of ethnic and cultural diversity, promote local development, and reduce conflict between different groups; However, it can also exacerbate divisions and create a sense of competition between different regions.
In addition; Federalism can be difficult to implement effectively, especially in countries with weak institutions and high levels of corruption.
And so on; It can be said that the federal experience in Africa proves that its application may be a double-edged sword. On the one hand; Federalism may be a potential solution to the problems of national integration and consolidation in Africa, as it provides a framework for promoting unity, stability and development, and can help address the underlying issues that have contributed to the fragmentation and division of the African state.
But on the other hand; It must be implemented carefully and taking into account the unique political, social and economic context of each country. It can also become a solution to the disintegration and division of the African state by enhancing the sharing of power and resources between the central government and regional governments. However, there is still a fundamental controversy surrounding federal governance in the African continent. About the possibility of disintegration of the federal field to be formed, by giving priority to ethnic considerations, so that it becomes a means for division and disintegration to occur instead of integration and integration.
