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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | Before perestroika: African and American perceptions of regional security in Africa |
Author: | Ate, Bassey E. |
Year: | 1992 |
Periodical: | Nigerian Journal of International Affairs |
Volume: | 18 |
Issue: | 1 |
Pages: | 120-130 |
Language: | English |
Geographic terms: | Africa United States |
Subjects: | foreign policy regional security |
Abstract: | African and Western perspectives on questions of peace and security in the post-1945 international system, given the conjuncture of decolonization and the Cold War, are fundamentally different. Generally, from the African perspective, the fundamental concerns of regional security are political liberation and apartheid. While the United States, in principle, shares these concerns, its global interests are such that security issues in Africa are viewed primarily in terms of geostrategic calculations. The US conception of regional security places exceptional emphasis on military sources of threat to the neglect of political repression and socioeconomic deprivation as the real sources of threat to security and stability. The US security interests in Africa are deemed by most experts to be minimal. Yet, policy actions undertaken by the United States in maintaining those interests have profound implications for African security interests. With the end of the Cold War, what is needed is to bring about a large measure of convergence between American and African perceptions on the requirements of national and regional security in order to create the basis for a mutually beneficial partnership. Bibliogr. |