Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T17:28:35.398Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Sapphire anniversary reflections on the study of United States foreign policy towards Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2003

Peter Schraeder
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Loyola University, Chicago.

Abstract

The creation in 1958 of a separate Bureau of African Affairs within the United States State Department served as a turning point in US foreign policy towards Africa, in that it signalled Africa's growing significance within the US policymaking establishment. This historical event has served as a point of reference for Africanists, as demonstrated by Crawford Young's (1984) ‘silver’ (25-year) anniversary reflections on the state of US Africa policies as president of the African Studies Association. The primary purpose of this essay is to provide ‘sapphire’ (45-year) anniversary reflections on US foreign policy towards Africa, by offering a select review of forty books that have been published on this topic during the last decade (1993–2002). It is important to note, however, that this essay does not provide a comprehensive review of all the books published since 1993, nor does it offer a comprehensive review of the literature published prior to that date. The intention is rather to illuminate trends in scholarship.

Type
Review Article
Copyright
© 2003 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)