Debating the African unity debate : interrogating six decades of converging and diverging dynamics towards continental unification

Abstract: This dissertation has made an attempt to interrogate the centripetal and centrifugal forces imbedded in African unity, which spans six decades and more. This study used the ideology of Pan-Africanism and African Renaissance alongside the theories of regional integration to examine how the debates on the quest for African unity have evolved over a period of sixty years. The author divided the evolution of the quest for African unity into three phases: the first phase involves the early 1900s, which was marked by the formation of the Pan-African Congresses, however, this was to set a background history of Africa’s quest for unity. It further maintained that the transplantation of Pan-Africanism from the African diaspora to Africa represented the first phase, which came to an end when the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) was established in 1963 ushering in the second phase in the quest for African unity. The transformation of the OAU into the African Union (AU) in 2002 marked the third phase in the quest for African unity. While the above classifications are not unique to the author’s views, however, these phases enabled the author to thoroughly examine the evolution of the debates and also to point out the convergent and divergent views found in the African unity debates. In the first phase, this study pointed out the reason that led to the fragmentation of newly independent African states into three rival camps while also examining the factors that exacerbated the tensions and the factors that pulled them together for a common purpose. The author argued that it was unequivocal that the desire for African unity was found in all three rival camps, however, the missing link was how and when this unity should be attained. The differences culminated in a compromise between the Casablanca and Monrovia groups leading to the formation of the OAU, which transformed the debates from theoretical arguments to practical policy steps. The author reviews some of the problems and challenges that have been encountered by the OAU. In particular, focusing on its policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of member states, coupled with the role of the Cold War in hindering Africans’ quest...M.A. (Politics