1960년대 독립 이후 반세기 가까이 지속된 아프리카의 정치, 경제, 사회적 혼란상은 21세기에 들어선 지금 대륙 내 총 54개 국가 중 3개국만이 본격 내전중이라는 사실 하나만으로도 분명 과거와의 단절을 실증하고 있다. 이를 두고 ‘후기식민(post-colonial)’ 국가의 종언이 논의되기도 하나, 본고는 1990년대 민주화와 내전의 혼란을 겪은 불어권 중부아프리카의 정치변혁과정을 분석하면서 ‘후기신식민주의(post-neocolonialism)’을 아프리카 국가체제의 새로운 패러다임으로 제시한다. 동구 사회주의권의 몰락과 탈냉전, 그리고 민주화 열기의 범세계적 확산으로 초래된 후기식민 체제의 위기, 즉 국가붕괴 현상의 만연으로 21세기의 아프리카는 결국 새로운 국가체제를 형성하게 되는 것이다. 불어권 중부아프리카의 후기신식민주의는 유엔과 미국, 그리고 국제금융권에 의한 아프리카의 재식민 과정으로 해석되기도 한다. 장기집권과 군부통치가 여전함에도, 다당제 정착과 국제사회의 엄중한 감시가 향후 정치안정과 경제회생을 담보하기 때문이다. 자원쟁탈에 나선 선진제국의 경쟁적 투자를 사회간접자본시설 확충에 적절히 활용하고, 중소기업 활성화와 고용창출을 통한 경제성장의 과실을 교육에 우선 투자하여 지구상 최후의 소외지역인 불어권 중부아프리카의 ‘르네상스’를 이루어내도록 신세대 지도자들에게 당근과 채찍이 필요한 시점이다.

The recent uplift in Africa’s economic growth, gradual improvements in political governance and the outbreak of peace in Congo-Kinshasa, Sierra Leon, Liberia, etc. is changing the nature of Africa’s outlook. Beyond the known insecurity continuing in Sudan, Somalia, Ivory Coast and Zimbabwe, Africa’s growth and prosperity is proving a new prospect for the 21st century. Accordingly, the neocolonialism exasperatingly criticised by Frantz Fanon is no more what it has been for the last four decades. The post-cold war democratic trends has let the multiparty system robustly rooted in every african post-colonial state. Moreover, the eclipse of french influence over francophone states, monolithic and dictatorial until 1990 under single-party rule, caused the metamorphosis of african authoritarianism. Even the long-lived dictatorships in Gabon and Cameroun are no more what they were ten years ago: their survival, economic development as well, hence depends on the assistance of international community. In 1990s, disorder and civil wars resulting from democratization gave american right-wing writers pretext for a recolonization of the continent by western superpowers, which then aroused severe critics all over the world. But nowadays in Africa, the new millennium is marked by UN’s quasi-recolonization: civil wars are coming to an end under the patronage of UN peace-keeping forces and economic perspective is highly up to the good will of foreign financial system. The MDGs chartered by UN is a testifying proof. On the other hand, ‘post-colonialism’ which acquired widespread currency not long after independence, still exists as one of the most exciting features of English literature today. It has given rise to a great range of debates within the hemisphere of british-american culture. But, as far as francophone central Africa concerned, the term is not only losing its pertinence, but also giving an impression that it has not even been properly employed to describe the ‘neocolonial’ situation since independence. Examination of the political trajectory of french-speaking central Africa since the 1990s suggests that the practices, routines and mentalities of new local regimes merits a new label of ‘post-neocolonial’. In sub-saharan Africa, the post-colonial period has thus passed.

The recent uplift in Africa’s economic growth, gradual improvements in political governance and the outbreak of peace in Congo-Kinshasa, Sierra Leon, Liberia, etc. is changing the nature of Africa’s outlook. Beyond the known insecurity continuing in Sudan, Somalia, Ivory Coast and Zimbabwe, Africa’s growth and prosperity is proving a new prospect for the 21st century. Accordingly, the neocolonialism exasperatingly criticised by Frantz Fanon is no more what it has been for the last four decades. The post-cold war democratic trends has let the multiparty system robustly rooted in every african post-colonial state. Moreover, the eclipse of french influence over francophone states, monolithic and dictatorial until 1990 under single-party rule, caused the metamorphosis of african authoritarianism. Even the long-lived dictatorships in Gabon and Cameroun are no more what they were ten years ago: their survival, economic development as well, hence depends on the assistance of international community. In 1990s, disorder and civil wars resulting from democratization gave american right-wing writers pretext for a recolonization of the continent by western superpowers, which then aroused severe critics all over the world. But nowadays in Africa, the new millennium is marked by UN’s quasi-recolonization: civil wars are coming to an end under the patronage of UN peace-keeping forces and economic perspective is highly up to the good will of foreign financial system. The MDGs chartered by UN is a testifying proof. On the other hand, ‘post-colonialism’ which acquired widespread currency not long after independence, still exists as one of the most exciting features of English literature today. It has given rise to a great range of debates within the hemisphere of british-american culture. But, as far as francophone central Africa concerned, the term is not only losing its pertinence, but also giving an impression that it has not even been properly employed to describe the ‘neocolonial’ situation since independence. Examination of the political trajectory of french-speaking central Africa since the 1990s suggests that the practices, routines and mentalities of new local regimes merits a new label of ‘post-neocolonial’. In sub-saharan Africa, the post-colonial period has thus passed.

Francophone Central Africa, Democratization, Neocolonialism, Negro-african Identity, Post-neocolonialism