Nationalism, decolonisation and independence in Africa
Concepts: nationalism; pan-Africanism; elite and mass nationalism; the political party and the trade union; the press; civil disobedience and strike; armed struggle; negotiated transfer of power; majority rule versus independence; the Organisation of African Unity (1963); the Cold War.
Chronology to handle: Libyan independence (1951); Ghana (1957); Macmillan's 'wind of change' speech (1960); Sharpeville (1960) and the turn to armed struggle in South Africa; the founding of the OAU (1963); the wave of independence across the continent between 1960 and 1966; Zimbabwe (1980), Namibia (1990) and South African majority rule (1994).
Botswana: the Bechuanaland People's Party (1960) demanded rapid self-government; the Botswana Democratic Party (1962), led by Seretse Khama, built a rural and chiefly coalition and won the 1965 election. Independence came on 30 September 1966 under a constitution combining elected government with a protected chieftaincy in a non-racial democracy. With no settler minority claiming power and an economy too poor to fight over, Britain negotiated rather than resisted.
Traps: claiming Africa 'became independent in 1960' - dates vary enormously; assuming decolonisation was violent everywhere; confusing independence with majority rule; offering a single cause rather than an interaction of grievance, organisation and opportunity.
Rule of thumb: structure causation as grievances (land, tax, discrimination), capacity (parties, unions, press, churches), opportunity (war, superpower pressure, a changed metropolitan government) and the colonial power's response.
Worked example: 'Nationalism alone explains Botswana's independence.' Better: nationalism supplied organisation and legitimacy; the absence of settler interests and of known minerals removed reasons for delay; and Britain's wider retreat from empire made transfer cheap.