The Years of Optimism

The wider world within which the majority of the African countries gained their independence during the late 1950s and 1960s demonstrated two apparently contradictory features. On the one hand, the Cold War between the communist and capitalist political systems was waged with grim determination by both sides and divided the world into two opposing camps. On the other hand, there was an upsurge of economic optimism which was common to the leading states on each side of the ideological divide. Experts of whatever economic persuasion – politicians, businesspeople, managers, economists, academics, civil servants – were firmly of the opinion that economic development, properly directed, could close the gap between rich and poor countries within a comparatively short time span. Prominent economists like Walter Rostow and Arthur Lewis wrote cheerfully of poor countries needing only brief injections of outside capital and technology before achieving economic ‘takeoff’, when they would cease to be mere suppliers of primary produce and learn to process their own commodities. Controlled industrialisation was the aim and, from both ends of the political spectrum, it was presented as something that could be determined by government action.

It was an aim which the leaders of the new African nations were happy to embrace and, for a time, it appeared that they would not be disappointed. During the 1950s and 1960s, commodity prices were generally favourable for African producers, although there were big fluctuations in the prices of some products.