Africa's political development. The Case of Organisation of African Unity (OAU) to African Union (AU)

Seminar paper from the year 2005 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Region: Africa, grade: 2, University of Kassel, language: English, abstract: This section examines the historical context of the idea of African integration, the challenges it faces and the significance in global affairs. The majority of post independence African leaders supported the idea of African Union, some of them disagreed on the form and composition of such a union while a minority were suspicious of the idea because of greed or fear to lose their countries sovereignty. The proponents for the formation of a closer cooperation in Africa argued that Africa should not only serve as a source of cheap raw materials to western countries but a vibrant power in global affairs. They argued that, this idea can only be achieved if all countries bring their human and material resources together to form a united front for the interest of Africans in particular and the world at large. This idea led to the formation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1963 which was later transformed to the African Union (AU) in 2002.