> Travis:
>
> >
> Is Africa a country?
>
>
> [WS:] Of course, not. But there is a concept of "African socialism,"
popular
> in several African countries, which was fundamentally a local variant of
> populism that I was referring to in my post. And it basically ended up as
> kleptocracy, pogroms, wars and genocide.
>
Yah and there was Eastern European socialism too. So the question came up
because you referred to Russia and Yugoslavia separately but Africa as
whole. As you well know Eastern European socialism would be a rather
obscure moniker. And incidentally I do not think Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt,
Ghana or Tanzania fits nicely, nor Ethiopia for that matter which is still
socialist to this day. This is not to say that I can't think of several
African countries which conform somewhat with your broad stroke (and
certainly Ethiopia during the DERG) but there are large differences and
exceptions.
I do think the lazy habit of referring to Africa as an undifferentiated whole is a good step in de-colonizing the European mind.