The Politics and Economics of Decolonization in Africa

Andrew Cohen undertook his research at the Universities of Sheffield and Oxford, and is currently Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Historical and Heritage Studies at the University of Pretoria.

Introduction: Situating Federation
The introduction will provide an up-to-date historiographical survey of the
Federation and situate what follows in the wider literature on decolonization and
African history.

Chapter 1: Towards federation
This chapter will discuss moves towards a closer association of Britain’s central
African territories, explore why these moves failed to come to fruition, and detail the
final adoption of the Federal scheme and its early years.

Chapter 2: The pipedream of partnership, 1957-1959
Chapter 2 will explore the first signs of pressure on the Federation, in central Africa
and Britain, from the settler government’s Constitutional Amendment Bill to the
outbreak of the Nyasaland Emergency.

Chapter 3: Pressure mounts, 1960-61.
This chapter will provide a fresh interpretation of the Nyasaland emergency in 1959
and evaluate the impact of both the Devlin and Monckton Commissions on the
Federation’s prospect for success.

Chapter 4: The ‘wind of change’, 1962-1963.
Chapter 4 will discuss developments and debates across the final years of the
Federation which culminated with its eventual dissolution at midnight on 31
December 1963.

Chapter 5: The business of Federation, 1957-1963.
This chapter provides a new interpretation of the activities of the two major mining
companies in the Federation, the South African mining giant Anglo American and the
United States owned Rhodesian Selection Trust. It expands on my previous work in
this area to argue for a different interpretation of the role of multinational business in
central Africa during this period.

Chapter 6: Federation in the wider-world, 1957-1963.
Decolonization in Central Africa,
This chapter provides the first detailed assessment of the Federation as an issue in the
wider world community. As such it focuses on how the Federation was perceived and
influenced by its relationship with South Africa, the United States and the United
Nations.
Conclusion
This chapter summarizes the book’s main findings.