The creation and matintenance of national boundaries in Africa

A paradox is central to the nature of political boundaries in Africa: there is widespread agreement that the boundaries are arbitrary, yet the vast majority of them have remained virtually untouched since the late 1800s, when they were first demarcated. This article argues that, contrary to current theories, the present boundary system represents a rational response by both the colonialists and the present-day African leaders to the constraints imposed by the demographic and ethnographic structure of the continent. Using this framework of analysis, the article examines the institutions that formulated the decision-making rules for the creation and maintenance of boundaries in Africa, discusses the conditions under which cooperation among states has occurred, and explores the prospects for future changes in the borders of African states.

[1]  K. Staudt,et al.  The Precarious Balance: State and Society in Africa , 1990 .

[2]  J. Prescott,et al.  Political Frontiers and Boundaries , 1988 .

[3]  Frank Dowrick.  Council of Europe: Juristic Activity 1974–86, Part II , 1987, International and Comparative Law Quarterly.

[4]  R. Jackson.  Quasi-states, dual regimes, and neoclassical theory: International jurisprudence and the Third World , 1987, International Organization.

[5]  Robert O. Keohane,et al.  Reciprocity in international relations , 1986, International Organization.

[6]  H. Sesay,et al.  Africa in the Post-Decolonization Era , 1986 .

[7]  Friedrich Kratochwil,et al.  Of Systems, Boundaries, and Territoriality: An Inquiry into the Formation of the State System , 1986, World Politics.

[8]  R. Jackson.  Negative sovereignty in sub-Saharan Africa , 1986, Review of International Studies.

[9]  K. Oye.  Cooperation under Anarchy , 1986 .

[10]  R. Jackson,et al.  Why Africa's Weak States Persist: The Empirical and the Juridical in Statehood , 1982, World Politics.

[11]  Will Hall.  A Treatise on the Foreign Powers and Jurisdiction of the British Crown , 1979 .

[12]  C. Young.  The Politics Of Cultural Pluralism , 1977 .

[13]  K. Ingham,et al.  Foreign Relations of African States , 1975 .

[14]  E. Gordon.  The Bases of International Order: Essays in Honour of C. A. W. Manning. , 1974, American Journal of International Law.

[15]  J. Goody,et al.  Technology, Tradition and the State in Africa , 1971 .

[16]  L. H. Gann,et al.  Colonialism in Africa 1870-1960 , 1970 .

[17]  S. Huntington.  Political Order in Changing Societies , 1969 .

[18]  Saadia Touval.  Treaties, Borders, and the Partition of Africa , 1966, The Journal of African History.

[19]  I. Zartman,et al.  The Politics of Boundaries in North and West Africa , 1965, The Journal of Modern African Studies.

[20]  F. Lorimer,et al.  Essays on African Population. , 1962 .

[21]  T. Schelling,et al.  The Strategy of Conflict. , 1961 .

[22]  W. G. East,et al.  The Changing World: Studies in Political Geography , 1957 .

[23]  Guido Zernatto.  Frontiers of the Future , 1942 .

[24]  M. S. Lindley.  The Acquisition and Government of Backward Territory in International Law , 1927 .

[25]  A. Boahen.  African Perspectives on Colonialism , 1987 .

[26]  T. Ranger.  The invention of tribalism in Zimbabwe , 1985 .

[27]  Adekunle Ajala,et al.  The Nature of African Boundaries , 1983 .

[28]  I. Brownlie.  African Boundaries: A Legal and Diplomatic Encyclopedia , 1979 .

[29]  J. Hargreaves.  West Africa partitioned , 1973 .

[30]  I. Brownlie.  Basic documents on African affairs , 1971 .

[31]  J. Prescott,et al.  The Geography of Frontiers and Boundaries , 1967 .

[32]  W. Henderson,et al.  The Berlin West African Conference 1884-85. , 1943 .