Africa and the World: Nonalignment Reconsidered

Abstract

African nonalignment developed between 1955, when its Asian counterpart flowered at the Bandung Confer ence, and 1965, when it was shaken by the failure of Afro-Asians to hold their conference at Algiers. Articulated by a number of leaders but never adopted by them all, African nonalignment usually involved efforts to assure independence, resist external "neocolonial" intervention, avoid entanglement in great-power conflict, emphasize economic development, seek "aid without strings," proclaim confidence in the moral rightness of the underdeveloped nations, and exert influence in certain international issues. Toward the end of this decade, and especially in 1965-1966, many African countries reconsidered their views on nonalignment. The Soviet-Chinese split was disillusioning. The change in African leadership through military take-overs caused a turning toward national problems of political stability. Continental questions, especially those of southern Africa, grew in importance, as did the pragmatic emphasis on economic development. Nonalignment in its old form has been transformed, but since many of the reasons for its first growth continue, it may well reappear in a modified form.