Cruise-O'Brien (1996) describes African youth as 'the lost generation,'[25] as he argues that the youth-to-adulthood transition has been blocked or stretched,[26] in a position of 'waithood' according to Honwana (2013).[27] Cruise-O'Brien believes this is caused by the failure of states and traditional organisations, who have reneged on their promises to the youth population about the rewards of development.