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The Political Economy of Decision-Making in African Foreign Policy

Recognition of Biafra and the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA)

Dalhousie University

Timothy M. Shaw

Centre for African Studies at Dalhousie University

Since the great wave of African independence in the early 1960s, the countries of this continent have been plagued by two important phenomena: the ghost of secession endangering the survival of existing states, and factionalization among the different contenders for power. This article analyzes Biafra's attempt to secede from Nigeria, and the fighting between the MPLA and other political organizations within Angola. The authors analyze the reactions and motives of different African states, within and outside the OAU, to each of these events. The political economy approach adopted here emphasizes the pressures on decision-making processes in "fragile" or "dependent" countries. Two conclusions emerge clearly (a) African foreign policies are elastic rather than static; and (b) unless vital interests are perceived in danger, African countries are reluctant to get entangled in conflicts outside their frontiers. Further close observation of African politics will be needed to know whether this tendency toward isolationism is a general characteristic, or only a function of a specific context.

International Political Science Review, Vol. 5, No. 1, 21-46 (1984)
DOI: 10.1177/019251218400500103


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