1945–1960s: (The Meaning of Independence — Africa Becoming Independent Through Both Compromise and Conflict, Nationalist Victories More Commonly Negotiated S…

1945–1960s: (The Meaning of Independence — Africa Becoming Independent Through Both Compromise and Conflict, Nationalist Victories More Commonly Negotiated Settlements Than Military Triumphs, Outgoing Colonial Authorities Leaving Behind Structures Noteworthy for Inequity and Instability, and the Resurgence of Nineteenth-Century Dynamics in Political Culture): Africa became independent — politically, at least — through both compromise and conflict, negotiation and violence, sometimes simultaneously. Nationalists might claim victory over colonial masters and the fulfillment of the people’s destiny, while governments in the metropole claimed missions had been completed and the transfer of power was simply the last stage of the imperial mandate — neither position was sustainable. While nationalist movements might occasionally have subdued colonial militaries by force, such triumphs rarely represented the total destruction of existing political systems, and even more rarely did they represent the will of entire populations. More commonly, nationalist victories were in fact negotiated settlements, no less remarkable for all that. Outgoing colonial authorities may occasionally have left behind friendly regimes run by people educated within the system and ideologically reconciled, but they also left behind social and political structures noteworthy only for their inequity and instability — unsustainable over the longer term. This was not merely a matter of the failures of decolonization, although these were manifold — also in evidence was the resurgence of nineteenth-century dynamics in African political culture, notably the struggle to win access to scarce political and material resources, characterized by violent upheaval and the forging of new communities. For both former colonial rulers and new African governments, decolonization represented only the latest stage in ongoing political, economic, and cultural struggles that remain unresolved.