Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-m6dg7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T06:35:23.919Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

African Boundary Conflict: An Empirical Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2014

J. Barron Boyd Jr.
J. Barron Boyd Jr.*
Affiliation:
Le Moyne College
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Modern African life has been profoundly affected by the brief period of European colonial domination during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. While the past is prologue for all states, the ramifications of Africa's colonial past have been felt with particular acuity in the current era due to the speed of Africa's transition from colonial status to that of independence. Many aspects of contemporary Africa reflect the residual effects of colonialism, but few do so with the clarity of the boundary situation. This study will focus on one particularly important aspect of that boundary situation—boundary conflict. In particular, it will define the explanations for boundary conflict offered most often in the traditional literature and test their validity using empirical methods.

The boundaries of modern Africa were the creation of European diplomats who partitioned Africa among themselves with little regard for, or knowledge of, the socio-cultural characteristics of the continent. As a result of the capriciousness of the European partition, a typical African boundary may group together many ethnic groups in one state, it may cut across many ethnic or national boundaries of the past, or it may create a state whose physical characteristics hinder political, social, or economic stability. Since the colonial boundaries were used, with few exceptions, as the basis for the devolution of sovereignty in Africa, the current leaders of the continent have had to deal with the effects of this boundary situation.

African international relations have also been influenced by the presence of externally defined, artificial boundaries. Political boundaries mark sharp discontinuities in political jurisdiction, but in Africa few of those discontinuities correspond to the patterns of the socio-cultural environment. It has, therefore, been frequently charged that the artificial boundaries of Africa form the basis for conflict between the African states (Emerson, 1963: 105). In order to make their boundaries more congruent with the ethnic landscape, some states might attempt to adjust their boundaries at the expense of a neighbor. If Africa's modern boundaries had been allowed to evolve in a more natural manner, or if the colonial powers had based their partition upon a more thorough appreciation of the ethnic contours of the continent, it is assumed that the states of Africa would be less prone to boundary conflict.

Type
Research Article
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 22 , Issue 3 , December 1979 , pp. 1 - 14
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 1979

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Ajala, Adekurle. (1974) Pan Africanism. New York: St Martin's Press.Google Scholar
Alliot, A. A. (1969) “Boundaries and the Law in Africa,” pp. 9–21 in Widstrand, C. G. (ed.) African Boundary Problems. Uppsala: Scandinavian Institute of African Studies.Google Scholar
Azar, Edward, Brody, Richard, and McClelland, Charles. (1972) International Events Interaction Analysis. Beverly Hills: Sage Professional Papers.Google Scholar
Boyd, J. Barron. (1979) “The Origins of Boundary Conflict in Africa,” pp. 159–89 in DeLancey, M. W. (ed.) Aspects of International Relations in Africa. Bloomington: Indiana University, African Studies Program.Google Scholar
Brams, Steven J. (1968) “The Structure of Influence Relationships in the International System,” pp. 583–99 in Rosenau, James (ed.) International Politics and Foreign Policy. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Campbell, D. and Fiske, D.. (1959) “Convergent and Discriminant Validation by Multi-Trait-Multi-Method Matrix.” Psychological Bulletin 56 (March): 81–105.Google Scholar
Castagano, A. A. (1964) “The Political Party System in the Somali Republic,” pp. 512–59 in Coleman, J. S. and Rosberg, C. (eds.) Political Parties and National Integration in Tropical Africa. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Collins, John M. (1973) “Foreign Conflict Behavior and Domestic Disorder in Africa,” in Wilkenfeld, J. (ed.) Conflict Behavior and Linkage Politics. New York: David McKay.Google Scholar
East, Maurice. (1973) “Size and Foreign Policy: A Test of Two Models,” World Politics 25 (July): 556–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emerson, Rupert. (1963) “Nation-building in Africa,” in Deutsch, Karl and Folts, W. J. (eds.) Nation Building. New York: Atherton Press.Google Scholar
French, J. P. R. and Raven, B.. (1960) “The Bases of Social Power,” pp. 607–23 in Cartwright, D. and Zander, A. (eds.) Group Dynamics. Evanston: Row and Peterson and Co.Google Scholar
Kapil, Ravi. (1966) “On the Conflict Potential of Inherited Boundaries in Africa.” World Politics 18 (July): 656–73.Google Scholar
McGowan, P. J. and Lewis, R.. (1973) “Culture and Foreign Policy Behavior in Black Africa.” Paper presented at the American Political Science Association, Annual Meeting, New Orleans.Google Scholar
Morrison, D. R. Mitchell Paden, J., and Stevenson, H.. (1972) Black Africa: A Comparative Handbook. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Prothero, R. M. (1969) “North East Africa: A Pattern of Conflict,” in Prothero, R. M. (ed.) Geography of Africa. New York: Praeger.Google Scholar
Rummel, Rudolph. (1967) “Understanding Factor Analysis,” Journal of Conflict Resolution 2, 4: 444–80.Google Scholar
Thiam, Doudou. (1965) The Foreign Policies of the African States. London: Phoenix.Google Scholar
Touval, Saadia. (1969) “The Sources of Status Quo and Irredentist Policies,” pp. 101–18 in Widstrand, C. G. (ed.) African Boundary Problems. Uppsala: Scandinavian Institute of African Studies.Google Scholar
Zartman, I. William. (1969) “The Foreign and Military Politics of African Boundary Problems,” pp. 79–100 in Widstrand, C. G. (ed.) African Boundary Problems. Uppsala: Scandinavian Institute of African Studies.Google Scholar
Zartman, I. William. (1966) International Relations in the New Africa. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall.Google Scholar