Title: (PDF) Causes of Civil War in Africa | Raymond Gavin - Academia.edu
Headings: Causes of Civil War in Africa
Causes of Civil War in Africa
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Causes of Civil War in Africa

Content: The role of the Cold War: The Cold War has had a significant part in provoking civil war in Africa, firstly by militarizing states that were unable to maintain a monopoly on power and secondly by undermining the political legitimacy of African governments. The civil wars in Angola and Mozambique perhaps provide the clearest examples of this (Hyden, 2006). Neither superpower had colonial ambitions in Africa, and instead saw Africa as a proxy battlefield that they could not afford to directly wage war in. This led both sides to rapidly militarize regimes that were chosen for expediency rather than legitimacy, and whose internal rule was not held to account. Regimes such as those in Somalia, Ethiopia and Zaire became heavily dependent on Cold War aid to prop themselves up through patriarchy and military dominance, provoking a scramble for power as they eventually became unsustainable  (Cramer, 2006; Ndikumana & Emizet, 2005). Both sides actively participated in “kingmaking” during the Cold War, fundamentally undermining the legitimacy of democratic governments. Neither the West nor the Soviet Union displayed much real ideological investment or capacity building in their new allies, or the desire to hold regimes accountable for their internal abuses of power. Foreign policy analysis from the time reveals that the American government was willing to continue funding the UNITA and FRELIMO movements despite the obvious superficiality of their ideologies, demonstrating that pragmatism was a more important determiner of military funding than commitment to political principles (Carpenter, 1986).