The Importance of Africa to The World System After 9/11 Attacks: War on Terrorism or Integration for Sustainable Development

5.1 Assumptions, significance and perspectives;

This paper reveals that the politics of the Breton woods institution or other word known as the Washington consensus is global that is, it knows no territorial limits, but the economics is local and differs from country to country. The PRSP and the PRGF and the policy requirement and indicators to qualify to these institutions is the same and apply to all countries rich or poor. But when it comes to the execution proper of the structural adjustment programs, different countries choose and adopt different policy areas of priority. While Cameroon embarks on internal restructuring of its fiscal and tax policy, public service and diversification of investment to non oil revenue Nigeria focus on military restructuring , large scale extraction of mineral oil resources, and regional peacekeeping as policy areas of priority.

The international scene is characterized by the combine action of governmental and non governmental actors. Henceforth the post Westphalian period, the international scene has been diversified and goes beyond the level of the state. That is to say according to James Rosenau, it is the time of governance without government. In other words the state is not as powerful as before, the state is in crisis and retreats in a world becoming a global village with NGOs, individuals and multinational companies playing a role on the international scene. Though the state has crisis and loses its sovereignty of state monopoly , it still has a vital role to play in the international scene to coordinate, control and administrate the state territory, population government, and the activities of other actors within the state. The state continues to influence the rate of political and economic evolution of the world, for example looking at the fundamental role of the industrialized states like USA, Britain and France in the international scene. The importance of the states in globalization intervening in the development of big industries for example when we talk of Microsoft of Bill Gate we see the United States of America behind it. The MNC and TNC reflect the state even at the level of industrial networking, the state plays an important role in the control and administration of their development of the new technology of information and communication supported by US government. In the post Westphalian period the international scene has been diversified and goes beyond the level of the state with the irruption of influential individuals such as Nelson Mandela with international prestige, Bill Gate of software, Dalai Lama the Tibetan Boudist, also terrorists as Ben Laden, and his right hand man Abo Musab Alzakaoui, African dictators as Robert Moghabe once a symbol of white and black integration in Zimbabwe but today a dictator. The multinationals and transnational companies such as Exxon Mobile, Shell, TotalFinaElf, Ford, Toyota, MTN, Orange , Samsung. International Institutions such as UNO, WB, IMF, NATO, ILO, FAO, Red Cross. Networks such as the University scientific research departments, the internet , Financial Banks institutions, Military networks such as the US marines, the CIA, Scotland yard, terrorists networks as the Al-qaeda have all led to turbulence in the world system that has led to a shift from Keynesianism to neo-liberal global market economic integration and heightened global interdependence of the production, finance and knowledge structures interacting with the security structure that has led to the regain of importance of Africa Gulf of Guinea to the world system.

The regain of importance of Africa to the world system, far from being as a result of war on terrorism or integration for sustaining development has to do more with the turbulence in the international scene and the regulating mechanisms put in place that led to the regain of importance of Africa Gulf of Guinea to the world system. This has not gone without the impact of the clash of civilization, according to Huntington’s thesis of global clash of civilizations⁶⁶, it assumes that state will develop their security policies on the basis of loyalty to particular religious or ‘’civilizational’’ community; The Christian West; Orthodox Slavic bloc; The Islamic world and so on. He explains ‘’will be the latest phase in the evolution of conflict in the modern world’’ (Klare 2002, p.13), this is the situation in Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad. This clearly confirms the choice of priority pursued by countries government, revealing the present system of things which this paper qualifies as living in ‘’a policy of terror coupled with one of propaganda to keep conquered peoples down and to frighten potential enemies with graphic propagandist imagery and brutal psychology’’ (Ephasians 6:12).