Case Study: AFRICA

In the Hettne book on ‘development theory and the three worlds’: Africa is given as an example of how a region was peripheralized. (brought in to the world system)

The first phase of the African peripheralization was during 1750 and 1900. Previous to that African and Europe were external areas to each other. Trade was in luxury goods, and the function of which was functionally unimportant to both economies. A qualitative change in their relationship is suggested by the fact that the slave trade culminated around 1750 and then stayed constant for the remainder of the century. African states, which organized the slave trade and whose structures were determined by it, were peripheralized, while the regions in which the actual slave hunt took place still formed part of the external arena. The world system as such was therefore not affected by the destructive consequences of the slave trade.

The second phase should be seen in the light of the so-called ‘scramble for Africa’, which eventually led to the partition and the use of Africa as a production area for core states. Different modes of exploitation led to specific forms of production in different parts of the African continent; ‘rural capitalism’, white farmers settlements and plantations. Brought about by the peripheralization of Africa, these forms of production have since greatly influenced African political and social development.

In the assumed future of Africa, it is easy to recognise the dependency school’s rather dreary outlook: the process of underdevelopment must continue to the bitter end. The core states will eventually be weakened, while the semi-periphery assumes an increasingly important role. On the other hand the position of peripheral nations, particularly the African will deteriorate.