Neocolonialism as a Driver of Radicalization of Islam in Tropical African Countries

Abstract

After the gaining of political sovereignty by most African countries in the 1950—1970s, the era of neocolonialism began on the continent, characterized primarily by the large-scale economic exploitation of former colonies by erstwhile metropolitan countries. In turn, the active intervention of neocolonial powers in the processes of political development of liberated African states led to the preservation of old and the emergence of new causes and prerequisites for the frequent outbreak of armed conflicts and wars, as well as the aggravation of tribal and inter-confessional contradictions. One of the manifestations of neocolonialism, which poses a major threat to the security of African countries, has been the radicalization of Islam, the number of followers of which in Africa reaches 650 million, in a number of regions of the continent. The consequence and at the same time the cause of the rapid Islamization of Africa has been the emergence of provinces (vilayats) of the Islamic State (IS, banned in the Russian Federation), which have easily been gaining the support of the poorest Muslims, dissatisfied with policies of governments that resist neocolonial exploitation either feebly or not at all. The authors of the present paper focus on the factors and circumstances of the radicalization of Islam under the conditions of neocolonial dependence of African countries that have not been sufficiently studied to date.