1960 is often called the year of African independence because of the unprecedented number of countries--seventeen--that achieved their independence. It might more appropriately be termed the year of West and Central African independence as these countries were mostly from the two regions (except for Madagascar and Somalia). They were also predominantly former French colonies (save for Nigeria and Somalia). In the annals of African decolonization, these countries won independence largely through peaceful struggle, unlike much of Southern Africa and countries like Kenya, and Algeria where protracted armed struggles were waged.
Evaluating the last fifty years for such a large and diverse continent is not easy. The task is perhaps best approached from the vantage point of the goals of African nationalism, the expectations of uhuru. Clearly, African nationalist movements were quite complex and diverse in their development, organization, strategies, and ideologies. Nevertheless, it can be argued that, collectively, they sought to achieve five historic and humanistic objectives: decolonization, nation-building, development, democracy, and regional integration.
Decolonization was one of the great historical events of the twentieth century and a remarkable achievement for African peoples. Over the next 34 years, the winds of independence blew across the rest of the continent culminating in the demise of apartheid in South Africa in 1994. The road to independence took much longer than this; it started in 1922 when Egypt got limited self-government, and gathered momentum from 1951 with Libya's independence, followed in 1956 by Sudan, Tunisia, and Morocco, and in 1957 Ghana.
But decolonization did not often translate into self-determination as the former colonial powers continued to exert strong influence over their former colonies. This was especially the case in the former French colonies, which remained firmly tied to French economic, political, and military institutions, interests and interventions. In addition, the newly independent states became pawns in superpower Cold War rivalries, which often turned into deadly proxy wars in the Third World. The end of the Cold War, emergence of new global powers such as China (which is now the world's second largest economy after having overtaken Japan), and transformations within the continent itself seem to offer new opportunities for fulfilling the dreams of decolonization.
The record of performance on the other four agendas of African nationalism is extremely complex and uneven across postcolonial periods, countries and regions, social classes, economic sectors, genders and age groups, which fit neither into the unrelenting gloom of the Afropessimists or the unyielding hopes of the Afroptimists.
Nation building exhibits palpable contradictions: both state and ethnic nationalisms are probably stronger than at independence. Within a decade, many of the countries that got their independence in 1960 were rocked by coups, civil wars, and perennial instability. Somalia even collapsed in 1991 and has yet to be reconstructed. Over the last decade, intra-state wars and conflicts have diminished and the prospects for nation-building have greatly improved.
While nation-building took center stage, the dreams of regional integration never died. They were nourished by the thickening circuits of regional integration schemes, transnational migrations, and globalization including the emergence of new African diasporas. Besides regional organizations such as the Economic Community of West African States and the Southern African Development Community, the Pan-African ideal of unity and African consciousness and identity are promoted through various continental and regional organizations, movements, and events from the African Union to the African Development Bank to the African Cup of Nations to Big Brother Africa.
As for development Africa as a whole witnessed rapid growth in the early post-independence years, then debilitating recessions during the lost structural adjustment decades of the 1980s and 1990s, and returned to decent growth rates in the 2000s. The record is of course uneven as some countries (e.g. Botswana and Mauritius) grew from low income to middle income countries while others remained stuck in poverty and stagnation. It is also uneven in terms of the social factors of ethnicity, race, and gender as evident in South Africa with its staggering maldistribution of wealth between whites and blacks despite the rapid growth of the black middle class and bourgeoisie.
In the early post-independence years, democracy withered under the grip of one party state and military dictatorships. By the 1970s, only Senegal from the independence class of 1960 maintained a veneer of democracy. In 1990, a handful of countries could be considered multiparty democracies. Now, the majority of African countries are; this year alone a score of countries are holding elections. Democracy has reemerged on the backs of expanding and energized civil societies and popular struggles for the ‘second independence', notwithstanding the blockages, reversals, and the chicaneries of Africa's wily dictators adorning ill-fitting democratic garbs.
Over the past fifty years, great strides have been made but huge opportunities have also been missed. Today, the African population is much bigger than at independence (1,033,043,000 cf. 285,049,000 in 1960) despite all the challenges; it is more educated, more socially differentiated, and more youthful than ever. Africa as a whole has a bigger middle class and fewer poor people than India, widely touted as an emerging global economic power. On the present trajectory, the Africans coming of age in 2010 can expect an even more developed and democratic continent compared to their forefathers in 1960 but only if they work and fight very hard for it.