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Military Dependence: the Colonial Legacy in Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2008

Extract

The past five years have seen a dramatic increase in the attention paid to the African military by scholars, journalists, and policy-makers. This trend is the direct result of the orgy of coup d'états, beginning in 1965, which have toppled governments of all political hues in every major region except white-dominated Southern Africa. As this article is written, well over one-third of the O.A.U.'s membership is under military rule, and there is little reason to believe that army officers will lose interest or effectiveness in the political arena.

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Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1974

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References

Page 265 note 1 A useful bibliography is contained in Welch, Claude E. Jr (ed.), Soldier and State in Africa: a comparative analysis of military intervention and political change (Evanston, 1970).Google Scholar

Page 265 note 2 Claude E. Welch, Jr., ‘The Roots and Implications of Military Intervention’, ibid. p. 8.

Page 265 note 3 See Crocker, Chester A., ‘France's Changing Military Interests’, in Africa Report (New York), 06 1968, pp. 1624 and 41;Google Scholar and Austin, Dennis, Britain and South Africa (London, 1966).Google Scholar

Page 265 note 4 As regards Southern African liberation, of course, this is changing. See Grundy, Kenneth W., Guerrilla Struggle in Africa: an analysis and preview (New York, 1971);Google ScholarAfrica Today (Denver), XIX, I, Winter 1972;Google ScholarGibson, Richard, African Liberation Movements: contemporary struggles against white minority rule (New York, 1972);Google Scholar and also Bell, J. Bowyer, The Myth of the Guerrilla: revolutionary theory and malpractice (New York, 1971).Google Scholar

Page 266 note 1 See, for example, Zartman, I. William, ‘The Foreign and Military Politics of African Boundary Problems’, in Widstrand, Carl Gösta (ed.), African Boundary Problems (Uppsala, 1969), pp. 79100.Google Scholar

Page 266 note 2 Mazrui, Ali A., Towards a Pax Africana (Chicago, 1967), ch. 2.Google Scholar

Page 266 note 3 Treatment of some of these themes can be found in Zolberg, Aristide, ‘The Military Decade in Africa’, in World Politics (Princeton), xxv, 2, 01 1973, pp. 309–31.Google Scholar

Page 266 note 4 Amin, Samir, ‘Underdevelopment and Dependence in Black Africa-Origins and Contemporary Forms’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies (Cambridge), X, 4, 12 1972, p. 524.Google Scholar

Page 267 note 1 The concept of military transfer of power and analysis herein derives from more substantial treatment in my unpublished doctoral thesis, ‘The Military Transfer of Power in Africa: a comparative study of change in the British and French systems of orde’, Johns Hopkins University, Washington, D.C., 1969.Google Scholar

Page 268 note 1 For an elaboration of French military motivations, see Labrousse, H., ‘La Marine et la défense de la communauté’, in Revue de défense nationale (Paris), XVI, 10 1960, p. 1665.Google Scholar

Page 268 note 2 It is not contended that there was full functional congruity between the two sides. There was, however, common interest in continuity of function in such matters as internal order, border inviolability, and availability of training assistance.

Page 269 note 1 Gutteridge, William F., Military Institutions and Power in the New States (London, 1964), p. 41.Google Scholar

Page 269 note 2 See, inter alia, Luckham, Robin, The Nigerian Military (Cambridge, 1971);Google ScholarMiners, N. J., The Nigerian Army, 1956–1966 (London, 1971),Google Scholar esp. chs. 3 and 7; and Bennett, Valerie Plave, unpublished doctoral thesis, ‘The Foundations of Civil-Military Relations in Ghana: 1945–1962’, Boston, 1971.Google Scholar

Page 269 note 3 An excellent discussion of non-military Africanisation is in Symonds, Richard, The British and Their Successors (London, 1966), ch. 12.Google Scholar

Page 270 note 1 Cf. Lee, J. M., African Armies and Civil Order (London, 1969), esp. chs. 3 and 4.Google Scholar

Page 270 note 2 Brice, Belmont Jr, ‘The Nature and Role of the Military in Sub-Saharan Africa’, in African Forum (New York), II, I, Summer 1966, p. 61.Google Scholar

Page 271 note 1 One of the best all-round studies of various military roles in Africa is Bell, M. J. V., ‘Army and Nation in Sub-Saharan Africa’, in Adeiphi Papers, No. 21 (London, Institute of Strategic Studies, 1965).Google Scholar

Page 271 note 2 Extended discussions of military assistance to Africa are found in M. J. V. Bell, ‘Military Assistance to Independent African States’, ibid. No. 15, 1964; J. M. Lee, op. cit. pp. 113–25 and Crocker, Chester A., ‘External Military Assistance to Sub-Saharan Africa’, in Africa Today, XV, 2, 0405 1968, pp. 1520.Google Scholar

Page 272 note 1 See Lofchie, Michael F., ‘The Uganda Coup-Class Action by the Military’, in The Journal of Modern African Studies, x, 1, 05 1972, pp. 1935.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Page 272 note 2 But for a judgement on narrow security grounds, see Regional Arms Control Arrangements for Developing Areas: arms and arms control in Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa (Cambridge, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1964), ch. 5, pp. 4344.Google Scholar

Page 272 note 3 An example of radical mental conversion proposals is in N'Dalla-Graille, C. E., ‘Quelque mots sur l'armée populaire nationale’, in Dipanda (Brazzaville), 92, 11 09 1965.Google Scholar

Page 273 note 1 Robinson, Donald, Gallagher, John, and Denny, Alice, Africa and the Victorians (London, 1961), pp. 1314.Google Scholar A useful discussion of the role of India in British military thinking is contained in Verrier, Anthony, An Army for the Sixties (London, 1966), Pp. 2728, 8182, and 107.Google Scholar

Page 273 note 2 Except where otherwise indicated, this account of the early years is based on the official histories by Moyse-Bartlett, Hubert, The King's African Rifles (Aldershot, 1956),Google Scholar and by Haywood, Austin and Clarke, F. A. S., The History of the Royal West African Frontier Force (Aldershot, 1964).Google Scholar

Page 274 note 1 The Colonial Empire, 1939–47 (London, H.M.S.O.,. 1947), Cmd. 7167, p. 9.Google Scholar

Page 275 note 1 Journal officiel de la République française (Paris), ‘Loi du 7 juillet 1900 portant organisation des troupes coloniales’.

Page 275 note 2 Ly, Abdoulaye, Mercenaires noirs (Paris, 1957), p. 30.Google Scholar

Page 275 note 3 Mangin, Charles, La Force noire (Paris, 3rd edn. 1911), p. 101.Google Scholar

Page 275 note 4 Data based on Histoire militaire de l'Afrique occidentale française (Paris, 1931), pp. 807–46;Google ScholarBeer, George Louis, in Gray, Louis Herbert (ed.), African Questions at the Paris Peace Conference (New York, 1923), pp. 272–74;Google Scholar and Buell, Raymond Leslie, The Native Problem in Africa, Vol. II (New York, 1928), p. 10.Google Scholar A useful discussion of the impact of this recruitment upon Africa is found in Crowder, Michael, West Africa Under Colonial Rule (Evanston, 1968), pp. 259–66.Google Scholar

Page 276 note 1 Spitz, George, L'Ouest africain français (Paris, 1947), pp. 379–83.Google Scholar

Page 276 note 2 Viard, René, La Fin de l'empire colonial français (Paris, 1963), p. 9.Google Scholar

Page 278 note 1 Hansard (London), 10 03 1952, col. 1034.Google Scholar

Page 279 note 1 A French parliamentary delegation sent to Africa in 1955 to report on military preparedness, found that government spending plans on equipment modernisation had not been implemented, and that some units were short even of ammunition for training. See Rapport d'information fait au nom de la commission de la défense de l'Unionfrançaise…sur l'état de la défense en Côte française des Somalis, à Madagascar, et à Tchad (Paris, Assemblée de l'Union française, 1955),Google Scholar Annexe au procés-verbal de la séance du 7 juillet 1955, pp. 44–46.

Page 279 note 2 de la Gorce, Paul-Marie, The French Army, translated by Douglas, Kenneth (London, 1963), p. 389.Google Scholar

Page 279 note 3 See Major Addresses, Statements and Press Conferences of General Charles de Gaulle, May 19, 1958-January 31, 1964 (New York, French Embassy Press and Information Division, n.d.), p. 116.Google Scholar

Page 280 note 1 Rosecrance, Richard N., Defense of the Realm: British strategy in the nuclear epoch (New York, 1968), pp. 51 ff.Google Scholar

Page 280 note 2 British Interests in the Mediterranean and Middle East: a report by a Chatham House Study Group, Royal Institute of International Affairs (London, 1958), p. 33.Google Scholar

Page 281 note 1 The record of negotiations preceding establishment of the Central African Federation strongly suggests that Britain's desire to promote strengthened and more self-sufficient entities in Central Africa coincided with local ambitions. See Gann, L. H. and Gelfand, M., Huggins of Rhodesia (London, 1964), pp. 210–11.Google Scholar

Page 281 note 2 A little-noted aspect of the Simonstown agreement is the extent to which it transferred formerly British responsibilities to South African hands. The process went hand in hand with British support for South African naval modernisation.

Page 281 note 3 See, for example, the rhetoric in the British Government's White Paper, Statement of Defence, 1962: the next five years (London, 1962), Cmnd. 1639, pp. 412.Google Scholar

Page 282 note 1 This emerged from extensive interviews b y the writer with British foreign and defence policy officials and scholars, October 1966–March 1967.

Page 282 note 2 On the 1966-68 East of S u e z defence debate, see Brown, Neville, Arms Without Empire (Baltimore, 1967)Google Scholar, Mayhew, Christopher, Britain' Role Tomorrow (London, 1967Google Scholar and International Affairs (London), XLII, 2, A pril 1966, ' Britain East of Suez - Special Issue'.

Page 283 note 1 Report of the West African Forces Conference, Lagos, 20–24 April 1953 (London, 1953), p. 3.Google Scholar

Page 283 note 2 Journal officiel de la République française, ‘Décision du 9 fevrier 1959 relatif à la défense de la Communauté’; and ‘Decision du 14 avril 1959 fixant les principes d'organisation et les conditions de mise en oeuvre de l'armée chargée de la defénse de la Communauté’.

Page 283 note 3 One of the few open sources in which these accords are analysed is Ligot, Maurice, Les Accords de coopération entre la France et les états africains et malgache d'expression française (Paris, 1964), pp. 8391.Google Scholar See also Crocker, ‘France's Changing Military Interests,’ loc. cit.

Page 285 note 1 Thompson, W. Scott and Bissell, Richard, ‘Legitimacy and Authority in the O.A.U.’, in African Studies Review (East Lansing), xv, 1, 04 1972, pp. 3437.Google Scholar

Page 285 note 2 Data on the Southern African military balance is available in Booth, Richard, ‘The Armed Forces of African States’, in Adelphi Papers, No. 67 (London, 1970);Google Scholar and in Peterson, Charles W., ‘The Military Balance in Southern Africa’, in Potholm, Christian and Dale, Richard (eds.), Southern Africa in Perspective: essays in regional politics (Glencoe, 1972).Google Scholar

Page 286 note 1 See Mazrui, Ali A., ‘The Contemporary Case for Violence’, in ‘Civil Violence and the International System’, Adelphi Papers, No. 82 (London, 1971).Google Scholar