Truman Administration and the Decolonization of Sub-Saharan Africa, The

Journal of Third World Studies, Fall 1997 by Okoth, P Godfrey

Although the Cold War and Africa's position in American foreign policy are effectively discussed in Chapter Four, no effort is made by Munene to define the Cold War or trace its origins for a better undertaking. The term Cold War is used to describe the protracted conflict between the Soviet Union and the western powers headed by the U.S., that, while falling short of "hot" war, nonetheless involved a comprehensive military, political and ideological rivalry. Originally used in the fourteenth century to denote the long-running conflict between Muslims and Christians in Spain, it entered modern political vocabulary after World War II, as a description popularized by the columnist Walter Lippmann, of the conflict between the Soviet Union and the Western powers. It was initially used to describe an historical period - the Cold War - that began with the breakdown of the wartime alliance of 1946 - 1947. Whereas some writers saw an end to the Cold War in the 1950s, after the death of Stalin, others saw its demise in the 1970s with detente. The term Second Cold War was widely used to refer to the period after the collapse of detente in the late 1970s, which of course does not fall within the scope of Munene's took but which nevertheless is important to know.

Cold War was, however, also used in a more analytic sense, not to denote a particular phase of East-West rivalry but rather to denote the very fact of the rivalry between communist and capitalist systems, one that involved competition and confrontation but not an all-out, "hot" war. In this sense, the Cold War began not in 1945, but in 1917, with the capture of state power by the Bolsheviks, and their proclamation of a worldwide challenge to capitalism, and continued until 1992 with the collapse of the Soviet Union itself.

Despite these observations, Munene's book makes a fascinating reading. It is certainly a valid contribution to the growing body of Literature pertaining to the history of U.S. African relations. Indeed, as Munene himself acknowledges in the preface to his book, "Books on U.S. Africa relations, with a few exceptions, tend to be superficial, episode - oriented and unscholarly." Despite its own limitations, Munene's book is one of the most objective and inspiring books on the subject of the decolonization of the African continent from the point of view of U.S. foreign policy. The book is a good foundation upon which further research on the subject can be pursued by Munene himself if he wishes, and/or by other diplomatic historians, for decolonization does not necessarily stop with the winning of political independence. There is still the question of economic decolonization, social decolonization and indeed mental decolonization to be tackled. What is the American policy towards these strands of decolonization? Such studies can be done either from the African continental point of view or as case-studies focusing on specific country or countries.

The book is, therefore, important for diplomatic historians of Africa and the U.S., diplomats in Africa and the U.S., international relations experts, graduate and undergraduate students of especially history and political science and all those interested in world affairs. The author and the Nairobi University Press, therefore, deserve to be congratulated upon having published this important book which joins my own, already referred to in the footnote, in the nascent field of diplomatic history pertaining to U.S. - African relations. As far as I know, it is only Munene and myself, in the entire East African region, who were the first to be trained in this field at the doctoral level.