The Future of Africa and its External Locus of Control
Africa is a huge continent that cannot be summed in one theoretical sweep. However, like any other region of the world, Africa’s challenges are the norm and not the exception. Is there a way to handle these complex challenges? Can we even handle them in the first place? Different nations will answer those questions differently. These are questions about whether a nation is competent enough to face its daily struggles such as debt, poverty, inflation, and economic growth. It is a question of whether we are prepared to face the challenges that will come in future decades such as the rise of the BRICS, climate change, a multi-polar world, and the demographic changes of the coming decades. It is a question about whether Africans believe in themselves to face these problems.
I don’t know how other Africans would answer these questions. Are we competent enough to face the complexity being churned out by the world daily? Are we prepared to avail ourselves for the next global challenges? Are we confident that we can grow and develop Africa?
All these questions are intended to test whether Africa has an internal locus of control.
The locus of control is a psychological theory pioneered by Julian Rotter. Rotter argued that an individual’s sense of control regarding their own life was very crucial in determining their success. A student who believes he will pass the math exam because he worked hard throughout the semester is more likely to get a high score because of his sense of control. In contrast, a student who is unsure about himself but expects the teacher to award him more marks because they are friends will definitely flunk.
The first student believes that his hard work will determine whether he passes the exam. Julian Rotter called the phenomenon the internal locus of control. An individual possesses an internal locus of control when he believes that life is within their control and that outside factors do not play a significant part in determining life outcomes. The second individual has an external locus of control because his perception of success directly depends on the actions and behaviors of others. The latter does not have life under his control and expects the teacher to pass him just because they are friends. In real life, individuals with an internal locus of control will definitely report more success than those with an external locus of control.
If the effects of having an internal locus of control could be immense for an individual, I imagine effects would be tremendous for countries that believe in their ability to control growth trajectories. Does your country believe it has the ability to develop and grow without external help? Does your country believe it can fight corruption within its borders and win? Does your country believe that it’s possible to hold free and fair elections? Does your country believe that hard work, precision planning, and deliberate effort is what’s needed to grow and develop?
That’s an aspiration I have presented. It doesn’t capture the thought processes of most Africans. To be frank, Africans have an external locus of control. We attribute our failures to external forces while at the same time believing it’s the responsibility of outsiders to bring prosperity to us. Often, you’ll here Africa’s predicaments are products of colonialism. The idea is that the systems early African governments inherited from the British, the French, Italians, and Germans were designed to condemn them to poverty. There’s truth to that but African should have done something about it by now. These observers underplay the role Africans should play in bringing prosperity to their doorsteps.
David Ndii has argued here that Kenya’s and most of Africa’s corruption problems are a European imposition. In a tale of two publics Ndii observes that the African state is comprised of two realms; the private realm and the public realm. The private realm is the first public comprised of our own coffers that none of us dares to steal from (You can’t steal from yourself or family). The public realm is comprised of a primordial public and a state public. The primordial public comprises the wedding and burial committees that nobody ever steals from. It is in the state or civic publics where people steal through corrupt deals, money laundering, opaque procurement deals and more. The detached moral linkages between the two publics, Ndii believes, were imposed though colonialism.
David Ndii’s take on corruption represents what many other African scholars believe. He gives an argument that I believe falls short of credibility especially because it blames all our corruption problems on external agents. Like African Americans who cling on racial discrimination to explain the sources of all their problems, Africans have also taken colonialism to their bosom as a pet theory that easily explains away their impotence and incompetence. You’ve already heard about the colonial system that is our police forces, the colonial sources of our poverty, and even the colonial legacy of bad leadership. All these claims distract from the fact that sixty years of independence has yielded very little in terms of growth and development. The claims are also disproved by the varied performance of different African states despite colonization by similar entities.
The focus on colonial platitudes as reasons for all our problems is evidence of Africa’s external locus of control. We attribute our failures, our lives, and and our fates to external forces far removed from our current needs and experiences. If Africa was a student, then this student doesn’t have enough self esteem to venture out on his own and make his grades. This student accuses the math teacher for being too demanding, rigorous, and unrelenting, while also accusing the other students for studying too hard. Yes! The teacher could indeed be tough and unrelenting, but for a student with an internal locus of control, a teacher’s demeanor is mere distraction. To a hardworking student only he can shape his math grade.
This is not an argument to sweep colonialism under the carpet. No! This is an argument that shows colonialism was a painful period in history but from which many countries have already moved on. The average age in Africa is 19 years and It shouldn’t surprise anyone that half of Africans were not born when South Africa got its independence in 1994. Telling these children that the reasons for their current problems can be explained using sixty year old colonial theories is retrogressive and scapegoating. Chances are they will not listen or maybe they will and continue with colonial grievances, write more books, and publish more papers on colonialism and its effects on Africa; all the while, Africa’s impending collapse will give them viable fodder and case studies to furnish their books and degrees. Like African Americans 400 years later, an external locus of control can only breed stagnation, poverty, and underdevelopment.
I have focused on colonialism because it’s the main source of Africa’s external locus. It’s where Africa looks whenever it seeks to blame somebody for something. If you turn this argument inside out you will notice that the rush for western validation is yet another external locus of control. Africa gobbles up Chinese loans, looks up to western models of development and romanticizes other countries like Singapore, Sweden, Dubai and more. The external locus rests on validation seeking whereby we expect Africa’s success to come from outside; from the same countries that troubled it in the past.
Meanwhile, it takes proper reevaluation of Africa’s cultures, education systems, work ethic, skills, intelligence, and locus of control to make a difference in an increasingly complex world full of challenges.
