A United States of Africa: Insights from antifragility

Abstract

I revisit in this article the question of the possibility of political integration of the Afri- can continent, something first proposed by Kwame Nkrumah and then re-proposed by Muamar Gaddaffi. My focus here is not to examine the extent of African leaders’ willing- ness to bring about integration, nor will I concentrate on the political intrigues surround- ing it (though these will be briefly acknowledged). Further, I will not contest Nkrumah’s economic argument (which is commonsensically correct and in line with mainstream eco- nomics) but will, instead, take up the more normative question of the possibility, and thus practicability, of political integration in light of cultural and ethnic heterogeneity on the continent. I argue that political integration is possible, and I support the gradualist view- point by drawing lessons from Nicholas Taleb’s concept of antifragility and pointing out that there is almost as much heterogeneity at individual and simpler society levels as there is in ethnically diverse societies.