Product Description

Frederick Cooper's latest book on the history of decolonization and independence in Africa helps students understand the historical process from which Africa's current position in the world has emerged. Bridging the divide between colonial and post-colonial history, it shows what political independence did and did not signify and how men and women, peasants and workers, religious leaders and local leaders sought to refashion the way they lived, worked, and interacted with each other.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #223363 in Books
• Published on: 2002-10-21
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 230 pages

Review
"Historian Frederick Cooper combined his strong suit in comparative history and his interest in historicizing and interrogating bodies of knowledge to produce this welcome and welcoming study of the past of Africa's present as the inaugral volume of the New Approaches to African History Series....is as accessible as it is packed with solid, current information in useful formats." Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History

"Recommended." Choice

Download Description
Frederick Cooper's latest book on the history of decolonization and independence in Africa helps students understand the historical process from which Africa's current position in the world has emerged. Bridging the divide between colonial and post-colonial history, it shows what political independence did and did not signify and how men and women, peasants and workers, religious leaders and local leaders sought to refashion the way they lived, worked, and interacted with each other.

Download Description
Frederick Cooper's latest book on the history of decolonization and independence in Africa helps students understand the historical process from which Africa's current position in the world has emerged. Bridging the divide between colonial and post-colonial history, it shows what political independence did and did not signify and how men and women, peasants and workers, religious leaders and local leaders sought to refashion the way they lived, worked, and interacted with each other.

Customer Reviews

Neoliberal "Gatekeeper" States

Prior to decolonization across the African Diaspora, colonial powers in Africa claimed that their superior management, scientific knowledge, experience and financial resources enabled them to transform backward Countries, under colonial occupation, into "modern states".

Such an arrogant argument, used by the North's beneficiaries of colonialism and imperialism was intended to justify the the continuation of imperialism and the new conditions of oppression in the African Diaspora.

Frederick Cooper in his book, Africa Since 1940, the Past of the Present, examined the development of African States, from decolonization up to the present. Not surprisingly Cooper found that the militaries, bureaucracies and institutional structures that the former colonial powers have bequeathed to their old colonies (since independence), have created only dependent, "gatekeeper" States.

Such "gatekeeper States" exist to protect the looting of their populations by their former colonial masters. Gatekeepers gain their legitimacy, after Independence, primarily through their former exploiting "mother countries" and in many cases their sovereignty is recognized more from the outside rather than from within.

Cooper clarifies America's role in decolonization and the creation of the new conditions of oppression in the former colonies. Washington's policy makers, from as early as 1943, pressured European powers to decolonize Africa, but only in a superficial, incremental manner that would not result in meaningful self-determination for the people.

Washington's approach to decolonization was therefore "Strategic." This strategic method was less concerned with "correctly solving the problem [of colonial oppression] than with making an advance" (or merely its appearance). Making an "advance," conceivably would pacify growing public pressure in the USA, which was emboldened by the domestic anti-colonial movement and Civil Rights movement.

Cooper's book will be useful to a wide range of general readers, including students of African History, Political Science and those concerned with the failed policies of neoliberal globalization in the African Diaspora.

See also:

In-Dependence from Bondage: Claude McKay and Michael Manley: Defying the Ideological Clash and Policy Gaps in African Diaspora Relations

African history
This is a well-written, comprehensive and easy to read book. I highly recommend it for a student or general reader who wants to learn about the political climate in 20th Century Africa. This book is focused on trends and yet does a good job of differentiating between the different experiences across regions and countries of Africa.