The Foreign Policy of the GDR in Africa [Hardcover]

In this 1990 book Gareth Winrow provides a comprehensive account in English of East German foreign policy towards Africa since the early 1950s.In this book Gareth Winrow provides a comprehensive account in English of East German foreign policy towards Africa since the early 1950s. He challenges the view of the GDRs role in Africa as solely that of a proxy for the Soviet Union.In this book Gareth Winrow provides a comprehensive account in English of East German foreign policy towards Africa since the early 1950s. He challenges the view of the GDRs role in Africa as solely that of a proxy for the Soviet Union.This book presents the first comprehensive account of the foreign policy of East Germany in Africa from the early 1950s to the present day. The author challenges the conventional notion that the GDR's role in Africa is solely that of a proxy for the USSR. Instead, as he convincingly argues, East German foreign policy in general and in Africa in particular, should be understood as a strategy both in pursuit of affiliation with the USSR and in search of international recognition and legitimacy.List of tables; Preface; Abbreviations; 1. Introduction; 2. The development of GDR relations with Africa in the pre-recognition period; 3. The GDR in Africa in the 1970s; 4. East German military/security involvement in Africa; 5. East German economic relations with Africa; 6. The GDR in Africa in the 1980s; 7. Conclusion; Notes; Select bibliography; Index. This is likely to remain the authoritative study of its subject.... Franz Ansprenger, International Journal of African Historical Studies For all those interested in a meticulous recounting of the GDR's formal political, military, and economic relations with Africa, however, this book will serve as a rich data base. Canadian Journal of African Studies It is an exceptionally well written, lucidly argued work with meticulous documentation, and it deserves a wide audience among both Africanists and students of internatl³