GOVERNMENT’S LEGITIMACY A CATALYST TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Hongie G.N.
Department of History
University of Douala, Cameroon
Email nhongiegodlove@yahoo.com
Abstract:
The transition from nationalism to nationism in post-colonial Africa is fraught with many challenges, among which is the question of sustainable development. Inheriting
states created for colonial convenience and not meant for self-propulsion orchestrated the problem of development in Africa, talk less of sustainable development. Statistical data in the
domains of development rank her the underdog in the global stride toward sustainable development. Colonial legacies and the tumultuous international context might have
contributed in no small way to this seemingly irreversible underdevelopment of Africa, but this finger-pointing and victim-image cannot certainly be a panacea to this anathema
particularly as the best help is self-help. In this perspective, more than six decades after independence, most African governments are eyesores to their citizens. This is of course the
fallout of constant military takeovers, electoral fraud, political apathy, rampant corruption and hereditary successions. All these have tremendously tampered not only with their
credibility, but have withal rendered Africa an agglomeration of failed states. Really, most African governments have lost legitimacy and have become threats to their own sustainable
development. This paper therefore hypothesizes that government’s legitimacy is a sine qua non of development and the legitimating of African governments can therefore be catalytic
to sustainable development. It contends that illegitimate governments devoid of general acceptability jeopardize their very stride for sustainable development given that sustainable
development, ipso facto, is people-focused and the participation of the citizens is indispensable for it success. In the main, where such willful participation is perpetually compromised because the government is not legitimate, then the whole concept of
sustainable development in the realm of such social construct becomes a farce.