Stephen Phiri

Stephen Phiri is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. His research focuses on the predicament of the African post-colonial state, exploring themes such as Afrophobia, political agency, conflict, and foreign intervention. Drawing inspiration from scholars like Frantz Fanon and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, his work critically examines Africa’s governance structures and their colonial legacies, while envisioning pathways toward genuine emancipation and Pan-African renewal.

My two main research areas are: (1) the predicament of the African post-colonial state, and (2) the relationship between religious institutions and politics. My current focus is on the first examining the enduring challenges and contradictions of the African post-colonial state. My study argues that this predicament manifests in four interrelated ways. The first is Afrophobia, which I understand as a product of apartheid and colonialism deep-rooted systemic remnants that shaped class hierarchies, demographic patterns, and spatial inequalities. These structures were not dismantled after independence; instead, they were often reproduced by post-colonial governments. As a result, Afrophobia can also be interpreted as a class struggle among people of African descent from different countries, driven by competition for scarce resources. The rise of groups such as Operation Dudula in South Africa reflects this deeper systemic failure. The proliferation of radical or vigilante groups, therefore, is not an isolated phenomenon but an expression of the broader structural crisis of the post-colonial state.

The second manifestation of this predicament is Africa’s limited participation in global political decision-making. Many African states tend to avoid taking firm positions on international issues frequently voting as “neutral” or abstaining altogether to escape the responsibility or consequences of their decisions. My research on African voting patterns at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) reveals a persistent lack of decisiveness across a variety of resolutions. A recent article of mine examined this pattern specifically in relation to the UN resolutions on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, highlighting how this indecision reflects deeper political and structural constraints.

The third manifestation is the recurring nature of violent conflict on the continent. I argue that much of Africa’s conflict is rooted in the incomplete and flawed transition from colonial rule to independence. This process produced artificial transformations that masked, rather than dismantled, the colonial structure of exclusion and discrimination. As a result, post-colonial states inherited institutions and political logics that are inherently volatile, exclusionary, and prone to instability. This perspective draws on the work of Mahmood Mamdani, particularly his analysis in Citizens and Subjects, and on insights from one of my published book chapters.

The fourth manifestation is the persistent vulnerability of African post-colonial states to foreign intervention. Since independence, many African states have struggled with structural dependency, relying heavily on external actors politically, economically, and militarily at the expense of building strong, sovereign state systems. Although governance failures among African leaders have contributed to this situation, Western influence has also played a decisive role in undermining or delaying initiatives aimed at creating African-led solutions to African problems. Across these manifestations, my work employs Frantz Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth especially chapters one and three as an analytical framework.

The next stage of my research will focus on pathways for moving beyond the current predicament of the African post-colonial state. I intend to examine historical and contemporary efforts to reconceptualize the state, including the political philosophies and actions of leaders such as Thomas Sankara and Ibrahim Traoré, as well as the emerging attempts by Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger to establish new regional blocs. Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s conception of the post-colonial state will serve as a guiding theoretical lens for this phase of the study.

Link to my publications: 

https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=list_works&hl=en&hl=en&user=b6ktyMYAAA