Curse of Berlin

Africa After the Cold War

Adekeye Adebajo

Shows how the shadow of the Conference of Berlin, which partitioned Africa for colonial interests, hung over the Continent for the next century
Considers a wide range of African nations

Curse of Berlin

Africa After the Cold War

Adekeye Adebajo

Description

At the 1884-1885 Conference of Berlin a cartel of largely European states effectively set the rules for the partition of Africa, an event whose historical and structural importance continues to affect and shape Africa's contemporary international relations. This 'Curse' is a recurring theme in Adebajo's trenchant historical analysis, even though its main focus is on contemporary African issues after the Cold War. The first part of the book examines Africa's quest for security with three essays on Africa's security institutions such as the African Union and sub-regional bodies; another on the political, peacekeeping, and socio-economic roles of the United Nations (UN) in Africa; and a third on Africa's two UN Secretaries-General between 1992 and 2006: Egypt's Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Ghana's Kofi Annan. The second section of the book focuses on Africa's quest for leadership, and five chapters examine the hegemonic roles of South Africa, Nigeria, the United States, China and France on the continent. The five chapters in the final section of the study analyse Africa's quest for unity, and examine the roles and significance for Africa of six historical figures: Mandela, Mbeki, Kwame Cecil Rhodes, Obama, and Gandhi; as well as assessing the African Union and the EU in comparative perspective.

Curse of Berlin

Africa After the Cold War

Adekeye Adebajo

Preface: Black Berlin and the Curse of Fragmentation: From Bismarck
to Barack Ali A. Mazrui
1. Introduction: Bismarck's Sorcery and Africa's Three Magic
Kingdoms
Part 1. The Quest for Security
2. Prophets of Pax Africana: Africa's Security Architecture
3. F rom Global Apartheid to Global Village: Africa and the
U nited Nations
4. The Pharaoh and the Prophet: Boutros Boutros-Ghali and
Kofi Annan
Part 2. T he Quest for Hegemony
5. Messiah or Mercantilist? South Africa in Africa
6. Gulliver's Troubles: Nigeria in Africa
7. An Axis of Virtue? South Africa and Nigeria in Africa
8. An Axis of Evil? China, the United States, and France in Africa
9. The Springbok and the Dragon: South Africa vs. China in Africa
Part 3. T he Quest for Unity
10. Mandela and Rhodes: A Monstrous Marriage
11. Thabo Mbeki: A Nkrumahist Renaissance?
12. T owers of Babel? The African Union and the European Union
13. O bamamania: Africa, African Americans, and the Avuncular Sam
14. The Heirs of Gandhi: How Africa and Asia Changed the World

Curse of Berlin

Africa After the Cold War

Adekeye Adebajo

Author Information

A former Rhodes scholar at Oxford University, Adekeye Adebajo is Executive Director of the Centre for Conflict Resolution (CCR) in Cape Town, South Africa. He is the author of, inter alia, The Curse of Berlin: Africa After the Cold War (Hurst, 2010); and UN Peacekeeping in Africa (2011).

Curse of Berlin

Africa After the Cold War

Adekeye Adebajo

Reviews and Awards

"Not only a fitting salutation to Ali Mazrui and an acknowledgement and celebration of the great Mzee's contribution, but in a major way, it defines a new paradigmatic frontier in our understanding of Africa's international relations by an African scholar who is as passionate as he is meticulous about his subject."--Africa Review of Books

"Adebajo is one of the brightest of his generation of Africanists and these chapters not only display deep knowledge of the continent and its contem- porary political problems but, unlike so much academic writing, are written with considerable flair and enthusiasm. apart from its other merits the book is a very good read."--Professor James Mayall, Cambridge University

"Overall, this volume provides a fascinating insight into contemporary issues affecting African international relations, and the security-hegemony-unity framework used has the potential to become a powerful tool for analysis."--Millennium