Africa

Integration, Dependency, and Responsibility
The economic philosophy of colonialism has contributed to the present economic instability of the continent of Africa. Assigned third-world economy status, dependent upon the world market, and caught amid social and political wars, Africa has not adapted well to the changes thrust upon it by colonial rule. But while historical events have played a significant role in condemning Africa to poverty and underdevelopment, African leaders themselves have also failed to own up to their leadership responsibilities.
A factor contributing to Africa’s inability to manage itself effectively is the colonial economic system, which has been thrust prematurely upon Africa, and which has relegated the African economies to a peripheral third-world status within the world economy. The most notable legacy of colonialism has been the integration of socialist-type colonies into the global capitalist economy. The main force keeping economies in the global system and sustaining imperialism is the market itself. For the wealthy in Africa, the market is a wonderful benefit, offering goods that Africa does not manufacture. The world market enables African elites to consume products of

The introduction of an organized commercial economy has largely replaced Africa’s traditional economy of rural, self-sufficient production of goods for subsistence purposes and local trade. In pre-colonial Africa, Africans would produce for their own use in local markets, and did not conceive of production for trade in global markets. Due to imported ideas of trade, the development of the use of a standardized common currency has limited barter exchange and subsistence trade (primary components of pre-colonial African economies) within African societies. The commercialization of commodities has attached specific money values to work or objects that had previously been for social use, and without ownership rights. No one owned the land in pre-colonial Africa; farmers had use-rights for areas of land but could not sell the land. Integration into a global market has changed the manner of trade and the economic systems of African societies themselves.

The colonial era introduced social and demographic changes in Africa that have affected the economy positively, such as the introduction of formal education, literacy expansion, urbanization, and health care. Birth rates have increased and death rates have dropped in many African nations as a result of colonialism. New levels of technology that had never been seen in Africa were introduced, such