Course information

Our contemporary world order comprising the hierarchically ordered 193 nations and two observer states, namely, the Holy See and the State of Palestine, of the United Nations, has its origins in the collapse of the European Empires and the Ottoman Empire, imperialism, colonial rule, and the rise of nationalisms, especially in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, in the mid-20th Century. In Africa, the historical collapse of these empires due to the emergence of Pan-African international movements, nationalist movements within various territories ruled by European states such as Britain, France, Belgium, Portugal and Spain as well as the rise of the idea of the right of a people to self-determination, the creation of the League of Nations and its successors, the United Nations, culminated in the emergence of the contemporary African nation-states, within a bi-polar international system, defined by the rivalry of the two post-war super-powers: the United State of America and the United Soviets Socialist Republic.
This course examines the nature of European imperialism, colonialism, nationalism, and decolonisation, as well as the struggles for freedom in Africa, which began in earnest during the inter-war period, 1919-1945, culminating in South Africa’s independence in 1994. The disruptive geopolitical rise of various African nationalisms not only catalysed the collapse of the European empires, created a new world order of nation-states, but also transformed and still transforms the nature of the relationship and conflicts within and among the 55 sovereign nation- states of Africa Union.