POLITICAL UNIFICATION BEFORE ECONOMIC INTEGRATION: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF KWAME NKRUMAH’S ARGUMENTS ON THE UNITED STATES OF AFRICA SELAMAWIT TADESSE GUDETA Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the subject INTERNATIONAL POLITICS at the UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA SUPERVISOR: DR AHMED H. JAZBHAY CO-SUPERVISOR: PROF. TENDAYI SITHOLE January 2018 DECLARATION I, Selamawit Tadesse Gudeta, declare that the dissertation entitled Political unification before economic integration: A critical analysis of Kwame Nkrumah’s arguments on the United States of Africa is my own work and that all the sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references. ________________________________ __________________________ Signature Date II 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. Key terms: African unity, Nkrumah, political unity, colonialism, neo-colonialism, Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Agenda 2063, sovereignty, Pan-Africanism, Casablanca and Monrovia groups, Africanness III DEDICATION To my father, Tadesse Gudeta. Had you been alive today, you would have been so proud of me. IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I thank the Almighty God who has given me everything I ever needed, including the time, perseverance and intellect to see this study through. I will always be thankful to Him for carrying me through when everything seemed bleak and futile. I especially thank my supervisors Dr Ahmed Jazbhay and Prof. Tendayi Sithole for their guidance, encouragement and support. Thank you so much for being patient with me even when we fought over word choices. I thank my patient and good-humoured husband for his care and support throughout this study, and my two beautiful daughters for sacrificing their time with their mother so that I could pursue my studies freely. You three are my rocks. Thank you Mfana. Without you, I even wouldn't have started this journey. Genny. I'm done!!! You can look at me proudly now. V ACRONYMS AEC African Economic Community APRM African Peer Review Mechanism AU African Union CAR Central African Republic CEWS Continental Early Warning System ECA Economic Commission for Africa ECOWAS Economic Community of West African States EEC European Economic Community EU European Union GDP gross domestic product IMF International Monetary Fund MDG Millennium Development Goal NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization NEPAD New Partnership for Africa’s Development OAU Organisation of African Unity RECs regional economic communities SADC Southern African Development Community TDCA Trade, Development and Cooperation Agreement UK United Kingdom UN United Nations USA United States of America VI TABLE OF CONTENTS Declaration..……………………………………………………………………………………...ii Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………..iii Dedication……………………………………………………………………………………….iv Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………………......v Acronyms………………………………………………………………………………..………vi Chapter 1: Introduction to the Study ........................................................................... 1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 Aims of the Study ............................................................................................................ 3 Problem Statement.......................................................................................................... 4 Literature Review ............................................................................................................ 4 Theoretical Framework .................................................................................................. 10 Research Methodology ................................................................................................. 12 Limitations and Delimitations ......................................................................................... 14 Operational Definitions .................................................................................................. 14 Structure of the Dissertation .......................................................................................... 15 Chapter 2: Nkrumah’s Call for Pan-African Unity ..................................................... 17 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 17 Contextualising Nkrumah’s Call for Pan-African Unity................................................... 18 Historical-Intellectual Evolution of Nkrumah’s Call for Pan-African Unity ...................... 26 Nkrumah’s Approach to Pan-Africanism ........................................................................ 31 Sovereignty ................................................................................................................... 37 Federalism .................................................................................................................... 42 Functionalism ................................................................................................................ 47 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 53 Chapter 3: Sovereignty, the Colonial State and Pan-African Unity ......................... 55 VII Introduction ................................................................................................................... 55 State Sovereignty and the Plague of Colonial Borders ................................................. 55 Africa’s Independence and the Colonial State: Nkrumah's Pan-Africanism as a Solution ......................................................................................................................... 62 Africa’s Struggle for Pan-African Unity: A Divided House .............................................. 70 Africa’s Impasse and the Colonial Question .................................................................. 79 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 84 Chapter 4: Towards Pan-African Unity? From Millennium Development Goals to Agenda 2063 ................................................................................................................ 86 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 86 Africa of the Future: What are the Concrete Steps towards Pan-African Unity ............. 87 Pan-African Unity and the Millennium Development Goals ........................................... 98 Pan-African Unity and Agenda 2063 ........................................................................... 107 The Future as a Political Mirage .................................................................................. 118 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 123 Chapter 5: Conclusion to the Study ........................................................................ 127 Bibliography .............................................................................................................. 139 Appendices ................................................................................................................ 160 Annexure A: Map of Africa before Colonisation ........................................................... 160 Annexure B: Map of Africa during the Scramble for Africa .......................................... 161 Annexure C: Map of Contemporary Africa ................................................................... 162 VIII CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY INTRODUCTION Kwame Nkrumah is widely known for his saying "Seek ye first the political kingdom and all things shall be added unto it" (Nkrumah 1979d:4). He wanted the entire African continent to be free of colonial and neo-colonial bondage and to come together under the umbrella of a United States of Africa, with political unity preceding other kinds of unity. He wanted all the broken-up, arbitrarily divided, small and “unviable” new states to become one and be a force to be reckoned with. In his book Africa Must Unite, he argued that there would be no meaning to the national independence of Ghana unless it was linked with the African continent’s total liberation from colonialism (Nkrumah 1963b:136). To this end, Nkrumah provided political and