Africa's Geomosaic Under Stress

Abstract

In 35 years, the colonial map of Subsaharan Africa has been transformed into a patchwork of four dozen independent states, many subject to severe devolutionary stresses. Domino effects hastened the decolonization process; a short-lived but significant buffer zone slowed it in southern Africa. During the period of Africa's transition, polarization in South Africa (socially as well as spatially) intensified. Core-periphery contrasts in the republic deepened; whereas integration and modernization increasingly mark the South Africa's core areas, the prospect for the periphery is bleak and instability may develop. Insurgencies, refugee flows, and environmental stresses buffet a politico-geographical framework that may appear stable on maps, but which may collapse from within.

Key Words:

• domino theory
• buffer zone
• insurgent state
• devolution
• boundaries
• core-periphery
• centripetal-centrifugal forces
• front line states