didn’t have centuries for building
their own political system,
they didn’t have even some years,
they had, I would say, some minutes,
those minutes of the independence.
The second reason, the second factor,
is of course the western cultural hegemony,
which was very important, clear, obvious,
dense during the colonial period,
but even also at the time of decolonization.
That’s to say the only model
that the leaders of independence had in mind
was the Western model,
and for a nationalist,
an African nationalist
or for an Arab nationalist,
the political model
that they had to implement
was obviously the Western state model.
The third reason
is a reason of political hegemony,
that’s to say to be admitted
in the international arena
in the second part of the 20th century
– that’s to say
the very moment of decolonization –
implied to introduce itself as a state,
as a formal state.
If a new political system
wanted to be admitted at the UN
it had to present the main attributes
of the classical, traditional,
Western model of state.