Journal of Alternative Perspectives in the Social Sciences(2014) Volume 5 No 4,783-807 783 Governance and Security in Africa in the 21 st Century: A Political Economy Perspective Dr. Cletus Ikechukwu Anah Directorate of General Studies Federal University of Technology Owerri. Imo State, Nigeria. drcletusanah@yahoo.com Abstract: As a result of the apparent intractability of the Governance and Security problems in Africa, insecurity and poor governance in the continent have been at the fore front of intervention efforts by International donor agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). However, these mitigation measures have relied heavily on micro level analysis that focus on weak institutional framework, corruption and poverty in Africa. This paper is a departure from this mainstream view of governance and security in Africa. Employing the political economy paradigm, and relying on secondary sources of data this paper links poor governance and insecurity in Africa to such external factors as the declining terms of trade between Africa and the industrialized economies of the world. It posits that a holistic and historical exploration of the sources of insecurity and poor governance in Africa will locate its amelioration in the concentration of efforts and resources on viable means of eliminating the exploitative unequal relationship between Africa and the West. Keywords: Exploitative relationship, Industrialized economies, Institutions, Insecurity. 1. Introduction The increased nationalism of the late 1950s led to an upsurge in the number of African countries that gained independence in the 1960s. However, soon after the attainment of flag independence, most of these ex-colonies were plunged into dictatorial military (mis) rule. Thus a combination of a long period of despotic rule and overwhelming poverty in the midst of abundant human and