The Issue of Ethnicity and Democratization in Africa: Toward the Millennium

Pan-Africanists thought had been thrashed out during the period of independence movement against colonial rule in the continent. Indeed, it is troubling to many observers that on the threshold of the next millennium, political ethnicity remains one of the daunting obstacles to the democratization enterprise in the area. The civil wars in Nigeria, Rwanda, and so forth were attributable to the clashes of ethnic groups over the control of the apparatus of government for the allocation of the national pie. To this end, this study seeks to do the following: discuss concisely some theories of ethnicity, provide a few examples to illustrate its problems in the democratization process, and suggest ways that it could be ameliorated as Africa marches toward the 21st century.