非洲－非洲领导人长时间统治的年代即将结束

 

Africa's Longtime Rulers

 

Gabon's president Omar Bongo came to power in 1967, the same year as the recently deceased President Eyadema of Togo. Like Mr. Eyadema, he was a military officer who seized power in a coup¹. He is heading a sizeable list of African leaders who have served for several decades, including Libya's Moammar Gaddafi, Angola's Jose Eduardo dos Santos, Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe and many others.

 

Gilbert Khadiagala, a history professor at Johns Hopkins University, says these leaders have much in common.

 

Gilbert Khadiagala: Most of them do seem to come from either a military background, or they've been legitimized through the use of military force, or over the years, they belonged to ethnic² minorities that have had to use force in order to survive.

 

Professor Khadiagala says long-serving leaders typically have control over their country's resources, such as oil or minerals, which help finance their regimes. And the longer they stay in power, the more difficult it becomes to remove them. Often they groom⁴ their sons as successors.

 

Professor Khadiagala: They prepare their children to take over because the longer they stay, the more insecure they become. They are quasi-monarchical regimes, if we can call them that way.

 

In the case of Togo, the constitutional succession plan required that the speaker of parliament should succeed the deceased president and call for elections within 60 days. Instead, the military took control, naming the president's son Faure Gnassingbe as the new leader. There is talk that Egypt's president Mubarak and Uganda's Museveni may be grooming⁵ their sons to take over after them.

 

Many historians blame this state of affairs on the colonial era.

 

James Mittleman: The nature of colonialism was to centralize administrative⁶ structures.

 

James Mittleman, professor of international affairs at American University in Washington, says colonialism disrupted pre-existing political systems on the continent.

 

James Mittleman: In some cases there were pre-colonial states as with the Empires, the Zulu Empire, the Ashanti Empire. In other cases they were decentralized types of political structures.

 

With the exception of Ethiopia and Liberia, all present African countries began as colonies. Many gained independence only after waging long wars against their colonial masters. Leaders of those wars typically became leaders of new states. But most were unable to meet their people's social and economic needs, which resulted in tensions and sometimes civil war.

 

Professor Khadiagala says the military or other authoritarian⁷ leaders, fearing their countries would fall apart politically, decided⁸ they could provide more stability.

 

Professor Khadiagala: They have paraded as fathers of the nations and the longer they stay, the tougher it is for the opposition⁹ to organize.

 

As in the communist world, many of these leaders have over the years developed a personality cult³, living in growing luxury and enjoying increased power, while their people suffered. Zimbabwe's Mugabe is an example. When he took over in 1980, his country, then Rhodesia, was relatively¹⁰ prosperous and he promised equal treatment to all his people. Today the people of Zimbabwe are on the verge¹¹ of starvation and unable to remove their leader.

 

With the departure of some of the rulers, says Professor Khadiagala, democratization has gained momentum¹². For example, when Daniel Arap Moi of Kenya decided to step down in 2003 after a quarter-century rule, he was not able to install a successor.

 

Professor Khadiagala: When they had the elections, the people were so tired of one-party rule that the opposition was able to unite under a new leader and Moi's successor in the party was defeated.

 

Even if Faure Gnassingbe does not depart, says Professor Khadiagala, he may not have the same power as his father.

 

Professor Khadiagala: In the new millennium¹³, there are too many pressures around these countries that they cannot avoid the 'problem' of making political transitions to a democratic rule.

 

In addition to outside pressures, African leaders today face the growing antagonism¹⁴ of their own people. New generations of Africans, half younger then 20, appear to want democratic change. Professor Khadiagala says regardless of whether Faure Gnassingbe remains¹⁵ in power or not, the era of the "Big Man" in Africa may be over.

 

For focus, I’m Zlatica Hoke.

 

注释：

coup [ku:] n. 政变

Angola [AN5^EulE] n. 安哥拉

Zimbabwe [zim5bB:bwei] 津巴布韦

groom [^ru:m] vt. 推荐

Uganda [ju(:)5^AndE] n. [国名]乌干达(东非国家)

colonialism [kE5lEunjElizEm] n. 殖民主义

Ethiopia [7i:Wi5EupjE] n. 埃塞俄比亚(非洲东部国家)

authoritarian [C:7WCri5tZEriEn] adj. 独裁的，独裁主义的

cult [kQlt ] n. 礼拜，祭仪，礼拜式

Rhodesia [rEu5di:zjE] 罗得西亚(津巴布韦的旧称)[非洲]

momentum [mEu5mentEm] n. 动力，要素

Kenya [5ki:njE] n. 肯尼亚

antagonism [An5tA^EnizEm] n. 对抗(状态)，对抗性

1 coup   

n.政变；突然而成功的行动

参考例句：

• The monarch was ousted by a military coup.那君主被军事政变者废黜了。
• That government was overthrown in a military coup three years ago.那个政府在3年前的军事政变中被推翻。

2 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

3 cult   

n.异教，邪教；时尚，狂热的崇拜

参考例句：

• Her books aren't bestsellers,but they have a certain cult following.她的书算不上畅销书，但有一定的崇拜者。
• The cult of sun worship is probably the most primitive one.太阳崇拜仪式或许是最为原始的一种。

4 groom   

vt.给（马、狗等）梳毛，照料，使...整洁

参考例句：

• His father was a groom.他父亲曾是个马夫。
• George was already being groomed for the top job.为承担这份高级工作，乔治已在接受专门的培训。

5 grooming   

n. 修饰, 美容，（动物）梳理毛发

参考例句：

• You should always pay attention to personal grooming. 你应随时注意个人仪容。
• We watched two apes grooming each other. 我们看两只猩猩在互相理毛。

6 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

7 authoritarian   

n./adj.专制(的)，专制主义者，独裁主义者

参考例句：

• Foreign diplomats suspect him of authoritarian tendencies.各国外交官怀疑他有着独裁主义倾向。
• The authoritarian policy wasn't proved to be a success.独裁主义的政策证明并不成功。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

10 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

11 verge   

n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• She was on the verge of bursting into tears.她快要哭出来了。

12 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

13 millennium   

n.一千年，千禧年；太平盛世

参考例句：

• The whole world was counting down to the new millennium.全世界都在倒计时迎接新千年的到来。
• We waited as the clock ticked away the last few seconds of the old millennium.我们静候着时钟滴答走过千年的最后几秒钟。

14 antagonism   

n.对抗，敌对，对立

参考例句：

• People did not feel a strong antagonism for established policy.人们没有对既定方针产生强烈反应。
• There is still much antagonism between trades unions and the oil companies.工会和石油公司之间仍然存在着相当大的敌意。

15 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。