The United States of Africa....

[Winner]

Ok, there isn't too much meat in this article, but it still presents an interesteting kind of idea: Do you think that a United States of Africa could work as a political,

No,

economic

no,

and cultural state?

and no!

Or is it just foolish and/or unrealistic?

Yes There is a bigger chance the US will join the EU than Africa uniting under single federal government.

And if they did unite, what name could they have (seeing as U.S.A. is taken )

United Hellholes of Africa

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Gene Roddenberry already had this idea, over 40 years ago. Lieutenant Uhura's mother tongue is Swahili, and the part of Earth she's from is described as the United States of Africa.

But in practical terms... there are centuries of colonial messes to undo before any new kind of unity can work. The colonial powers were clueless when they divvied up the real estate -- ignoring natural boundaries such as rivers, which had long served as borders between rival language/religious groups, and throwing everybody together. And ever since then, they've been flabbergasted at the continual state of civil war/genocide in much of the continent.

 

[Winner]

Gene Roddenberry already had this idea, over 40 years ago. Lieutenant Uhura's mother tongue is Swahili, and the part of Earth she's from is described as the United States of Africa.

But in practical terms... there are centuries of colonial messes to undo before any new kind of unity can work. The colonial powers were clueless when they divvied up the real estate -- ignoring natural boundaries such as rivers, which had long served as borders between rival language/religious groups, and throwing everybody together. And ever since then, they've been flabbergasted at the continual state of civil war/genocide in much of the continent.

Colonial powers did that on purpose. By keeping the territories ethnically diverse, they could control them with much less effort - they favoured one group, which felt superior to the others and did most of the dirty work. Very clever. Unfortunately, it worked only under the colonial rule, without it it's a recipe for continual civil war.

 

[amadeus]

Also, Sani Abacha should be Treasury Ministry (think 419)

I chose Bokassa because he spent a quarter of the treasury on his "coronation" as Emperor.

 

[mangxema]

"Our micro-states have no future."

Quote of the day.

 

[Murky]

If British African colonies had developed similarly to the American colonies it might be possible. Given the history of the continent, a United States of Africa is highly unlikely. We might see a united East-Asia or Middle-East at some point but even then there are so many different cultures it would be difficult.

 

[ParkCungHee]

To bad Amin's not around to fill...any post really would be absurd.

 

[The Yankee]

Ethiopia and the rest of the Horn

Yeah, right. Ethiopia has fought everyone on the Horn and everyone there hates everyone else.

 

[sourboy]

Regionally speaking, yes -- but they would need at least 4 regional countries (of note) to have a chance... a chance.... chance to make it happen. They would also have to commit (more so than nations of the UN) to a community military (aka police), economy, etc. That could happen, but it'd take a lifetime to become practical at this point.

 

[CCA]

There should be a USA

Union of Soviet Africa

 

[sourboy]

Soviet? or Sino?

 

[Winner]

Soviet? or Sino?

Good point

 

[Merkinball]

Ethiopia and the rest of the Horn (to unify)

This will never happen. Ethiopian orthodoxy and Islam don't mix. Even as we speak Ethiopia has a border stand off with Eritrea, and a war with Somalia.

 

[TheLastOne36]

I remember my Geography teacher saying "Africa is not a country" Well he's wrong now

 

[Ansar]

I remember my Geography teacher saying "Africa is not a country" Well he's wrong now

No, he's still right.

There still isn't a United States of Africa.

 

[TheLastOne36]

yet....

(10chars)

 

[amadeus]

There should be a USA

Union of Soviet Africa

Because Mengitsu didn't help Africa enough, right?

 

[Evie]

A United States of Africa as a Superstate covering all or nearly all of Africa is never going to happen within the next few centuries.

Of course, the United States of America doesn't even cover all of North America.

But I wouldn't dismiss the possibility of a regional superstate of some sort forming or beginning to form along either the Gulf of Guinea, or the Swahili coast, sometime this century.

 

[mangxema]

Colonial powers did that on purpose. By keeping the territories ethnically diverse, they could control them with much less effort - they favoured one group, which felt superior to the others and did most of the dirty work. Very clever. Unfortunately, it worked only under the colonial rule, without it it's a recipe for continual civil war.

Nice... didn't know that... Is there any chance the African countries could sit down and recreate their borders to fix this?

 

[nihilistic]

The United States of Africa....?

Maybe after World War ... 7?

Nice... didn't know that... Is there any chance the African countries could sit down and recreate their borders to fix this?

By 'African countries' you probably mean the 'leaders' of such disparate factions in those 'countries'. Now, what would cause these 'leaders' to 'sit down and recreate their borders'? The excuse might be traditional cultural borders but the motivation is always resources and money. The problem is that their respective methods of 'recreating their borders' usually involves more machetes than talking.