The Weakness of 'Social Capital' As a Key Infringement to African Development: The Ivorian Example‪.‬

Abstract The Afrocentrism debate remains dominated by the issue of Africa's past glory and its preponderant role in the emergence of human civilisation--a trend reliant on the assumption that if Africans want to move forward, they need to be concerned with their cultural heritage. This article, however, is based on the premise that it is also necessary to continue raising the issue of the socio-political auto-determination of Africa, which requires an analysis of the historical environment in which current African states have emerged and evolved. Drawing from the example of Cote d'Ivoire, this article looks at the twist and turns that took place on the continent after independence, and caused Africa to miss its rendezvous with modernity. It suggests that social capital--a concept that should primarily be understood as a sense of confidence in state institutions--remains to be built on the continent; and also argues that emerging modern African states have kept, in their effective operations, the administrative models of traditional society, where individuals matter more than social structures and where power remains concentrated in the hands of a strongman who has pre-eminence over any institutions.