Rodney’s survey of Africa before the colonial era is instructive. And the frequent military coups and constant political instability have had an adverse impact on African development (as they did in Latin America).

In addition to all this, you have to take into account the fact that many African political leaders have for a long time been tools of the West and so haven’t acted in the best interests of their people. In the first place, the wealth created by African labor and from African resources was grabbed by the capitalist countries of Europe and in the second place, restrictions were placed upon African capacity to make the maximum use of its economic potential - which is what development is all about.” Throughout the period that Africa has participated in the capitalist economy, two factors have brought about underdevelopment. Trade has existed for several centuries colonial rule began in the late nineteenth century and has almost disappeared and the investment in the African economy has been increasing steadily in the present century.

“The things which bring Africa into the capitalist market system are trade, colonial domination, and capitalist investment. It also takes the form of loans to African governments, which have to be repaid with interest. Imperialism, on the other hand, as manifested for instance in Europeans’ ownership of land and mines (and banks, factories, etc.) in Africa, entails the outflow of revenue from Africa to the foreign owners, which forestalls African development. They also set the prices of the manufactured products they produce, which of course are higher than those of the former category.

For example, the big capitalist countries effectively establish the prices of minerals and agricultural products and “subject these prices to frequent reductions,” thus harming Africa’s economy (depriving it of revenue). The former has to do with the terms of trade. Like Robin Hahnel in The ABCs of Political Economy (2003), he postulates two main mechanisms of underdevelopment: exploitation through trade and exploitation through investment (i.e., imperialism). Walter Rodney’s classic How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (1972) is certainly worth reading.

Rodney how europe underdeveloped africa