Will the rapidly-increasing trend towards “globalization” help or hurt this development? I can see arguments both ways. Will Africa remain “behind” the rest of the planet for the foreseeable future? Then factor in smilingbandit’s AIDS statistics. What happens when the population starts crashing due to this disease?
I just don’t see a happy ending here…ever.
Poor, poor Africa. 
Right, and I agree with you, except maybe the “earlier stage of political development” part, which seems to assume that there’s some set pattern of political development. I just wanted to emphasize that I thought Gladstone made a good point when he said
“The colonial powers built and consolidated their multi-ethnic empires at home first before doing the same in Africa.”
Because too often, people talk about ethnicity like it’s something fixed and objective, instead of realizing that “French”, “German”, “Ibo”, “Chinese”, “Cherokee”, or whatever are all identities that had to develop over time.
Despite Putin’s so-far successful attempts to return Russia to a monarchy, I suspect that once the twin ideas of representative government and the nation state have been released from Pandora’s basket, there is a somewhat inevitable movement in that direction–a movement that will be enhanced by modern technology and trading practices. I will, however, admit that I am influenced by the rapid spread of those phenomena in the last 150 years (a tiny blip in history) and that something (T.W.A.T.?) could certainly reverse that trend.