Colonialism's Legacy in Central Africa: Marginalization of Minority Groups - Essay Sample

Introduction

In my opinion, I think that colonialism has greatly impacted both the political and economic conditions of the contemporary Africa. According to the readings on the New Scramble for Africa: Conflict and Coltan in the Congo: War in the Great Lakes, there are various impacts on the legacies of colonialism in Central Africa. Among the impacts, what interests me more is the marginalization history of different minority groups, which seems to be a colonialism legacy that is highly recommended in various post-independence institutes. In this case, the institutes' manipulation that is in favor of political purposes tends to undermine the emergence of a common Congolese identity. I believe that the undermining process occurs by the acts of securing ethnic instincts that are mostly exploited by political entrepreneurs in the favor of mobilizing support from their leaders by causing mutual suspicion and fear between the ethnic groups. In trying to overcome conflicts and wars, I would encourage individuals to have an institutional solution regarding the issue on ethnic discrimination. The elevation of inequalities on ethnicity and identity helps in consolidating an improved common sense of the Congolese identity among all individuals, thus building a basis for the implementation of legitimacy.

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On the other hand, the readings give a clear view of how the legacy that belongs to both the colonial and post-colonial administration acts as an instrumental tool in the treatment national identity processes. From the point of view, in nationality, the institutionalized manipulation of laws that were mainly meant for the purposes of targeting long-time immigrants tends to be at chronic insecurity levels in Eastern Congo. This implies that there can be the spread of conflicts in the neighboring eastern communities. I would strongly support the point that, in DRC, the wars tend to be more as compared to domestic conflicts since they have a longer history of turning wars into regional conflicts. In most cases, the wars are associated with poor regulations in the natural resource sector.

Economic, Political and Environmental Issues of Colonialism

According to the reading on Africa Geographies of Change: Rural, under the economic forecast, it is clear that rural areas will continue to struggle with high levels of poverty and rapid population growth. Additionally, colonialism led to inequality among people. For instance, in Europe, the emergence of a mass colonial project and America's discovery plays a major role in spurring institutional and economic development. Further readings explain how other places such as Britain, which had struggled against the monarchy, gave the society and parliament the first priority, which in turn led to the empowerment of industrial groups that aided in giving economic opportunities to the Americans.

On the contrary, Asia presented and pushed for an improvement in political and economic institutions. What I believe is, the consequence was economic growth. As mentioned previously, the monarchy dominated society, economic, and trade opportunities. Unlike Americans, the consequence was the weakening of political institutions and the declining economy. Another political issue is overcoming the legacy of exclusionary politics. In Congo, there seems to be a lot of conflicts that can lead to political issues on colonialism. In particular, these conflicts are commonly used in representing a challenge that is directed to the country and regions. According to my understanding, the challenge acts as a major test of the region's capacity politically and the neighboring communities who are accused of being involved in political activities. In most cases, the accusations prevail, whether they are justified or not.

In an environment, there can be difficulties in managing all the natural resource sectors, optimizing the generation of revenue by the government and the creation of employment in an environmentally sustainable way. Colonialism makes it hard for individuals to understand the needs of each other.

Impacts of Colonialism and Neocolonialism

Neocolonialism entails the practices of using globalization, capitalism, and cultural imperialism in influencing a developed country rather than the use of previous colonial techniques of imperialism or hegemony. How can this be made possible? In my view, various problems impact colonialism and neocolonialism, and these problems have their possible futures that enable them to do so. According to the readings, colonialism and neocolonialism can have great impacts on the infrastructure and cross-border trade.

In most cases, the problems of the infrastructure of a given country can be grouped into three levels; that is, inadequate coverage of infrastructure such as water, power and transportation, poor infrastructure conditions, and high cost of infrastructure services, mostly in the transport area. In my statistics, the cost that is too be used in bridging these gaps tends to be high. This makes it hard for the mobilization of additional investments, with or without maximum efforts. However, through the use of colonialism and neocolonialism, there will be a reduction in cost, thus enhancing efficiency in the utilization of resources.

On the contrary, colonialism can undermine trading activities due to the antagonism that exists between DRC and the neighboring communities that hamper the integration and harmonization processes of trade policies. This can be made clear by the decision that was made by the Congolese government regarding the imposing of visa cards on Rwandans who were trying to cross the DRC. Additionally, this can be used in showing the various political constraints that are directed to the regional integration processes. One of the major impacts that I find it to be more effective on colonialism on the Congolese economy and the neighboring community is the loss they incurred in economic exchanges that they have always prevented. Therefore, I fully support the point that colonialism has greatly impacted both the political and economic conditions of contemporary Africa.