The Plausibility Of The United States Of Africa

Running head: PLAUSIBILITY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AFRICA 1

The plausibility of the United States of Africa

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PLAUSIBILITY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AFRICA 2

The plausibility of the United States of Africa

One of the most talked about topics is the idea of uniting African countries under a single

flag and constitution. Certainly, this has for long been a debatable proposition, which has

received mixed opinions. In general, unification is not a novel concept in history. Rather, it has

been used to form a majority of the powerful nations. For instance, the United States of America

was once a collection of thirteen different and distinct countries that united after gaining

independence from Britain. Unification has been deemed essential in making these nations

powerful, hence the idea of African nations joining under one flag and constitution. While the

unification of African countries can prove to be advantageous, it is implausible to create the

United States of Africa due to poor leadership and the occurrence of internal conflicts.

One of the challenges facing the unification of the African continent is bad leadership.

Most of the leaders within the region have opposed any steps of uniting African countries under

one government as they fear to lose their sovereignty and self-interest. Some of the Presidents of

the regions are very corrupt and therefore, the position of leadership is their opportunity to

accumulate wealth. For this reason, they would not want a United Africa, which would need to

be under one leader as they will be required to relinquish their positions. Furthermore, there have

been several instances where the African leaders have led efforts to amend the constitution to

ensure that they hold on to power. For instance, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Robert

Mugabe of Zimbabwe have held power for more than 30 years. Corruption cases and

unconstitutional acts have marred their regimes (Mentan, 2014). As a result, they have frustrated

any efforts to unite the African continent. Therefore, because of the bad leaders who are

currently managing the region, it is not plausible to create the United States of Africa, which

would unite all the African countries under one flag and constitution.

PLAUSIBILITY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AFRICA 3

The other reason is the occurrence of internal conflicts within the region. According to

Mentan (2014), the progress to unite the African countries is undermined by the presence of

ethnicity within the continent. Moreover, Devlin (2010), points out that Africa has the highest

level of internal displacement in the world and some of the largest refugee flows. Most of such

conflicts occur within countries and not between one nation and the other. Consequently, it

implies that in Africa, people within a country are not themselves united as they are divided

along ethnical backgrounds and political affiliations. Thus, it is difficult to unite all the nations

within Africa under one leader, if the people within those specific countries are not in harmony

themselves.

However, despite the challenges of uniting the African continent under one leadership,

there is still some progress being made. For instance, the establishment of the African Union,

which constitutes all the countries within the region has provided where Africans can discuss

their challenges. One of the successes of the AU is that it has come up with several strategies that

can help end the conflicts within the region. The other factor that has promoted unity within the

continent is that some countries have amended their constitutions, limiting the power of the

Presidents. Such moves have supported the journey to unite the continent as they slow down the

hunger for staying in power for prolonged terms.

In conclusion, it is evident that the idea of uniting African countries under one flag and

constitution seems to be a challenge. Poor leadership has for long hindered any progress to make

the proposition possible. Again, the occurrence of internal conflicts makes it even harder

considering the different ethnicities within the continent. However, the establishment of unions,

such as the African Union, help reduce the challenges for the unification of the African

countries. With such progress, there is a reason to believe that although it may take time, there is

PLAUSIBILITY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AFRICA 4

a great possibility that the proposition of uniting African countries under one flag and

constitution to create the United States of Africa could well be plausible.

PLAUSIBILITY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AFRICA 5

References

Devlin, J. (2010). Challenges of economic development in the Middle East and North Africa

region. Singapore, NJ: World Scientific.

Mentan, T. (2014). Africa: Facing human security challenges in the 21st century. Bamenda,

Cameroon: Langaa Research & Publishing CIG.

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