The Organisation of African Unity in the 1960s: From Euphoria to Disenchantment

Abstract

This article revisits the early history of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) which emerged at a critical juncture of globalisation in the 1960s. Four broad topics are discussed: (1) the political aims of the organisation, (2) the continental body’s role in global politics and the way independent African states have impacted on the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement and the Commonwealth, (3) the development of intra-African relations, and (4) possible reasons for the general underperformance of the OAU’s in particular with regard to violent conflict on the continent in those years

Biographical Note

Prof. Dr. Ulf Engel (SFB 1199 & Leipzig University)

Ulf Engel is professor of ‘Politics in Africa’ at the Institute of African Studies at Leipzig University (Germany). He is also a visiting professor at the Institute for Peace and Security Studies at Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia) and a professor extraordinary in the Department of Political Science at Stellenbosch University (South Africa)