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

  • Ulf Engel (Professor of Politics in Africa at the Institute of African Studies, Leipzig University)

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