ABSTRACT

Despite the liveliness of debates on ‘post-socialism’ over the last decade or so, Africa has very rarely featured in the discussions. Yet African states developed quite interesting modifications to the European model of a communist state, based on different experiences with socialist ideology and communist regimes, that go beyond evidence of a ‘developing country factor’. This chapter will explore these African particularities, and their translation into ‘African socialism’ and ‘African communism’ respectively and, consequently, ‘African post-communism’. This will include discussions revolving around the two main rationales behind the adoption of Marxism-Leninism: post-colonial ‘Africanisation’, and the strategic exploitation of the Cold War competition between the superpowers for ‘spheres of influence’ in Africa.