Ethnicity and Army Recruitment in Colonial Plural Societies

Not very long ago, Adekson conducted a study of the kinds of difficulties faced by multi-ethnic, sub-Saharan African states as they attended to the twin problems of military organization and the control of the military. The present paper makes a critical examination of the colonial historical roots and sources of the problem. With the two known exceptions of Ethiopia and Liberia, all contemporary sub-Saharan African societies possessing armies inherited them from European colonial rule. It is not surprising, therefore, that both the structures of these states and their armies were very much affected by the policies of the colonial powers that had established them.