Free at Last?

With the end of the Cold War, the United States has an unprecedented opportunity to create a new policy toward Africa freed from the constraints of East-West geopolitics. In "Free at Last?", Michael Clough provides an overview of US-Africa relations from World War II to the present. He surveys past American initiatives to illustrate how US policy, intent on containing Soviet expansion, benefited African rulers at the expense of African civil society. He also discusses the declining importance of US strategic and economic interests in Africa and how this is counterbalanced by the growing interest of American constituencies focused on such issues as humanitarian relief, human rights and the environment. Clough proposes abandoning traditional, government-to-government diplomatic approaches in favour of a radical new strategy modelled on the successes achieved in combating famine in Ethiopia and ending apartheid in South Africa.