Post colonial governments: After WWII, many African and Asian countries were freed from the foreign yoke. Some countries struggled for freedom and some got it effortlessly. All the countries did struggle with their new found freedom and they had lost touch with governance for many years as they were subjugated by the European powers. Post colonial governance was not without its problems. The traditional colonialism was no longer seen but there was neo- colonialism. Neo-colonialism was also called neo-imperialism and this term is used to indicate influencing the developing countries through globalization, cultural imperialism and capitalism. It was indirect control of the super powers on the developing countries.
The Cold War was a geopolitical state, a tension, created after World War II between Eastern Bloc and Western Bloc. Eastern Bloc consisted of the Soviet Union and its satellite states. Western Bloc consisted of United States and its NATO allies and few other countries. US wanted to restrain the spread of Soviet communism in the developing nations. Third World countries became a battleground for the cold war battles. The term ‘cold war’ was used because there were no big wars between the two Blocs, yet not all was well between them, especially US and USSR. The most vulnerable were the new nations of Africa, Latin America and Asia.
There were changes in the political, economic and social structures during the post colonial period. Some countries were struggling politically and this was more in the African countries. In Tanzania J.K.Nyerere stressed that the new nation should be built on the traditional tribal socialism which was characterised by distribution of benefits and classlessness. Like everywhere the Europeans developed areas which they were using and neglected the areas where the Africans were populated. This had to be changed after independence. After independence the governments built better roads. Food and cash crops were grown as this was the only way to stabilize the economy.
Objectives of education were re-framed after independence. The governments wanted to provide education which promoted African cultural values. It had to promote national unity, social justice and self-reliance. Education had to be suited to the African needs. These countries wanted to eliminate racialism in the education. In the health sector too they wanted to remove racialism. The African governments wanted to give same health facilities in rural and urban areas. On the whole they wanted to make the country better with good infrastructure, social norms, economic independency, improved health and hygiene and education.