AFRICA: THE POLITICS OF UNITY

Not for the general reader is this academic thesis by Immanuel Wallerstein, already well-known for his Africa, the Politics of Independence to which this is the sequel. Defining from the start the difference between the movement for African unity which sought to transform Africa and the world and unity by alliance which wished only to strengthen Africa's position in the present world power game, Dr. Wallerstein examines the seemingly Countless conferences and treaties concerning African unity between 1957 and 1965. To put these multitudinous political manipulations in chronological order with analytical conjunctions was in itself a mammoth task; the reader is abjectly grateful for the appendix of abbreviations, for the many organizations. Having given the run-down on all the conclaves, the author goes onto discuss some of the problems facing the movement: regional unity vs. African unity, economic implications of South Africa, and the trade unions. To conclude, he examines ""an idiology for a movement"" and ""African unity in the World Context."" The text includes, in an appendix, ""The Resolution on Neo-Colonialism."" Abundantly footnoted and saturated with quotations, this is required reading for the student of present-day Africa, but as rough going as a trek across the Kalahari.