ABSTRACT
The absence of sustained progress in Africa's development, for Eritrean born, Kidane Mengisteab and its failure to stem the tide of its present crisis, raises questions about the appropriateness of development strategies and policies. The goal of an auto-centric approach is to correct the neglect of internal dynamics in Africa's development effort. A principal hypothesis of Mengisteab's, in fact, is that in Africa's case all three levels of integration: internal, regional and global are compatible with each other. During the period of decolonization in Africa, the colonial state created democratic institutions in many countries in an effort to leave behind liberal democracies. Weakened by dependent economic structures, growing marginalization within the global economy, and widespread poverty, the African state has found that internally its basis of efficiency has been severely eroded. The colonial state intensified the extractive relations, materially and economically, while detracting from human relations, culturally and spiritually, thereby failing to develop any form of integral polity.
