Some of Africa's problems are rooted in the colonial experience. The imperial powers failed in various ways to erect a sturdy base for responsive and effective postcolonial states.

In the first place, the territories created by imperialism were, in a dual sense, artificial entities, and this has produced severe problems in state building. First, their political forms at independence had not evolved organically out of local traditions. Instead, colonial powers transferred Western models of state organization to Africa. These imports might have taken root in local political cultures, given an extended germination period. However, colonialism was an almost fleeting experience in most of Africa, too transitory to institutionalize alien political structures and norms. Secondly, the colonies and protectorates were artificial in the sense that late nineteenth-century European imperialists paid no heed to cultural and linguistic criteria in carving out national boundaries. Diverse and sometimes hostile peoples were grouped within common borders. These differences were exacerbated, albeit unintentionally, by colonial-induced social, economic and political change. The legitimacy crisis and ethnic tensions that bedevil postcolonial politics must be understood in the context of the colonial epoch.

In the second place, colonial capitalism was not a particularly dynamic or creative force; this, too, has implications for the contemporary period. Imperialism dragged, prodded and enticed Africans into a market economy, but most participated only marginally. Economic change there was, and along with this, the formation of modern capitalist classes.