Political unification before economic integration : a critical analysis of Kwame Nkrumah's arguments on the United States of Africa
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Authors
Gudeta, Selamawit Tadesse
Issue Date
2018-01
Type
Dissertation
Language
en
Keywords
African unity , Nkrumah , Political unity , Colonialism , Neo-colonialism , Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) , Agenda 2063 , Sovereignty , Pan-Africanism , Cassablanca and Monrovia groups , Africanness
Alternative Title
Abstract
Kwame Nkrumah was the first African leader to pursue the idea of Africa’s continent-wide
unity with fervour. Many thought that African unity will only be the pooling of poverty and
that Nkrumah’s dream was impossible. Nkrumah was known for his philosophy "Seek ye
first the political kingdom and all things shall be added unto it". He thought that political
unity should precede economic unity, which would naturally follow. Even though the newly
independent African states agreed on the necessity of unity, his philosophy was not
welcomed when the Organisation of African Unity was established in Addis Ababa
(Ethiopia) in 1963. Rather, delegates opted for incremental political integration leading to
economic integration –an aspiration that Africa is still struggling to bring to fruition. This
study demonstrates that Nkrumah’s idea of political unity before economic integration was
and still is valid for Africa’s continent-wide unity. To this end, the study will use textual
sources and use diachronic and integrative approaches as analytical tools.
Description
Citation
Gudeta, Selamawit Tadesse (2018) Political unification before economic integration : a critical analysis of Kwame Nkrumah's arguments on the United States of Africa, University of South Africa, Pretoria, <http://hdl.handle.net/10500/24525>