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The Ideological Scramble for Africa the US, Ghanaian, French and British Competition for Africa's Future, 1953-1963

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The Ideological Scramble for Africa the US, Ghanaian, French and British Competition for Africa's Future, 1953-1963 The Ideological Scramble for Africa The US, Ghanaian, French and British Competition for Africa's Future, 1953-1963 Frank Gerits Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor of History and Civilization of the European University Institute Florence, November, 2014 (defence) European University Institute Department of History and Civilization The Ideological Scramble for Africa The US, Ghanaian, French and British Competition for Africa's Future, 1953-1963 Frank Gerits Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor of History and Civilization of the European University Institute Examining Board Prof. Federico Romero, EUI, Supervisor Prof. Dirk Moses, EUI, Second Reader Prof. Idesbald Goddeeris, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, External Supervisor Prof. Sue Onslow, London School of Economics/Institute of Commonwealth Studies © Frank Gerits, 2014 No part of this thesis may be copied, reproduced or transmitted without prior permission of the author For Dorien Thesis Abstract | i Thesis Abstract The ideological scramble for Africa tells the story of an international competition between the US, France, Ghana and the UK. Against the background of rising Soviet interests, these countries worked to convince leaders and peoples in Sub-Saharan Africa of their pan-African, capitalist and imperial plans. Between 1953 and 1963, Africa’s position in the international system was not primarily determined by the struggle between the USSR and the US. African leaders did not simply play off the Cold war superpowers against each other to extract gains. Kwame Nkrumah, the leader of Ghana, projected his own pan-African ideology to other parts of the continent. What was at stake in this scramble were the so-called ‘minds’ of African peoples. Nkrumah blamed colonialism for instilling non-white populations with an inferiority complex, while policy makers in the West drew on the insights of ethno-psychology to argue that underdevelopment was a psychological problem. To develop men into the modern mindset or, conversely, to create an ‘African Personality’, policymakers relied on education and information media. When other African statesmen were unwilling to support Ghana’s pan-African vision, Nkrumah’s public discourse became more stridently anticolonial, in an attempt to mobilise the African general public. With the atrocities of the Congo crisis in mind, President John F. Kennedy and the Europeans began to see anticolonial nationalism as an emotional response to the tensions that came out of the modernisation process. Western officials therefore decided to modernise the socio-economic structures of ‘emerging’ societies, since psychological modernisation had failed. Those shifting views on African development profoundly influenced the way in which the Bandung Conference, the Suez Crisis, the independence of Ghana, the Sahara atomic bomb tests and the Congo crisis were understood. As a whole, this analysis presents a sharp departure from a narrative in which non-Western actors are depicted as subaltern agents who can only resist or utilise Cold War pressures. It seeks to address the broader question of why pan-Africanism ultimately failed to become a fully developed interventionist ideology, capable of rivalling communist and capitalist proscriptions for African development. ii | The Ideological Scramble for Africa Table of Contents Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................................... vii Abbreviations ................................................................................................................................................... xi Map .................................................................................................................................................................... xiii Introduction ....................................................................................................................................................... 1 Key Concepts ................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Historiography and Research Questions .......................................................................................................... 10 The Global Cold War and African Agency.................................................................................................... 11 The History of Decolonisation, African Studies and Multi-centric History ................................... 13 Public Diplomacy as Strategy, a Comparative Approach ...................................................................... 14 The Power of Culture, Beyond Soft Power and Americanisation ...................................................... 17 Multi-Centric Approach, Africa-Centred Perspective and Cross-National Dynamics .................... 19 Organisation and Sources ....................................................................................................................................... 23 PART I THE GOSPEL OF STABILITY ........................................................................................................ 30 1. Orderly Transition ................................................................................................................................... 31 Exploring the Links between Preparation and Stability (1953-1954) ................................................ 36 The Gift of British Information Services ...................................................................................................... 38 French Culture as the Key to Upward Social Mobility............................................................................ 41 Strategies of Manipulation and Modernisation (1953-1955) .................................................................. 45 Finding Ways to Foster a Stable Transition in the Face of French Resistance in West Africa ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 47 Anglo-American Cooperation in East Africa .............................................................................................. 52 Ameliorating the Developmental Wasteland of the Belgian Congo.................................................. 57 Conclusion: Taking the Sting out of Transition .............................................................................................. 60 2. Bandung as a Symbolic Battle .............................................................................................................. 63 The Road to Bandung: The Conference as a Propaganda Challenge ..................................................... 67 American Low Profile in the Run Up to Bandung .................................................................................... 68 The British Problem of African Attendance and Nkrumah’s Diplomatic Game........................... 71 French Optimism ................................................................................................................................................... 72 The Conference Agenda: The Brown Man’s Burden and Moral Strength ........................................... 74 Moral Strength ....................................................................................................................................................... 75 The Brown Man’s Burden .................................................................................................................................. 79 Table of Contents | iii Drawing Lessons: Bandung as a Question of Aid .......................................................................................... 81 French and American Cultural Assistance Fortified ............................................................................... 82 Colonial Publicity and ‘Bandung in Reverse’ in the UK ......................................................................... 84 Conclusion: Bandung as the Call for a Better Colonial Project ................................................................ 86 3. Hungry Minds ............................................................................................................................................. 87 Satisfying the Hunger for Education (1955-1956) ....................................................................................... 90 British Colonial Publicity as a Dam Against Hostile Ideas .................................................................... 92 Négritude as the French Public Diplomacy Strategy .............................................................................. 93 The Baylor Philosophy and the Export of American Values ................................................................ 95 Reaffirming the Commitment to Assistance on the Ground (1955-1957) ......................................... 99 Improving French Language Education ...................................................................................................... 99 Mass Education, Private Initiative and Technical Assistance in the Service of American Ideas .....................................................................................................................................................................................101 Increasing the British Presence ....................................................................................................................103
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