Semi-peripheral countries and the invention of the ‘Third World’, 1955–65

Abstract

Revisiting the events leading to the collapse of Third World summitry in 1965, this article proposes that the rise and fall of Third World unity efforts in the years 1955–65 originated from the unsuccessful attempt by industrialised Afro-Asian (aa) countries to turn unindustrialised aa states into their export markets. As a case study, this article explores Egypt’s economic foreign policy towards other aa countries and its activity within the aa and the Non-aligned movements, and compares Egyptian strategy in this field with that of China and Ghana.

Keywords:

• Afro-Asian
• non-alignment
• Egypt
• China
• Ghana

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Carolyn Biltoft, Yoram Haftel, Emma Hunter, Lorenz Luthi, Robert Vitalis and two anonymous reviewers for their excellent comments on earlier drafts. Ido Mizrachi and Shiri Shapira supplied invaluable research assistance, which was funded by Israeli Science Foundation grant no. 1190\11 and German–Israeli Foundation grant no. 2262-2154.4\2010.

Notes

1. The term ‘Third World’ is used here merely as a short-hand to refer to African, Asian and Arab countries. I use it here interchangeably with the term ‘Afro-Asian world’. See also Wolf-Philips, “Why ‘Third World’?”

2. Frieden, Global Capitalism, 301–320; and Meredith, The Fate of Africa, 141–142.

3. Jansen, Afro-Asia; and Kimche, The Afro-Asian Movement.

4. Berger, “After the Third World?”; and Prashad, The Darker Nations.

5. Podeh, The Quest for Hegemony; and Jankowski, Nasser’s Egypt.

6. Vitalis, “The End of Third Worldism.”

7. Wallerstein, “Semi-peripheral Countries.”

8. Reynolds, “The Spread of Economic Growth.”

9. Kaldor, “International Trade”; Steiber, “The World System,” 35; and Eckstein, Communist China’s Economic Growth, 101, 233.

10. Jansen, Afro-Asia, 308–309.

11. Smith and White, “Structure and Dynamics of the Global Economy.”

12. Larkin, China and Africa; Shichor, The Middle East; and Friedman, “Soviet Policy in the Developing World.”

13. Archiv Jugoslavije [Archive of Yugoslavia, Belgrade; hereafter aj], Memo of Conversation between Tito and Nasser, December 29, 1955; Record Group [hereafter rg] KPR, File I-2/5-2; Jansen, Afro-Asia, 190–191; and Ginat, Syria and the Doctrine of Arab Neutralism, 112.

14. Shichor, The Middle East, 42; and Ogunsanwo, China’s Policy in Africa, 9, 37–38.

15. Eckstein, Communist China’s Economic Growth, 93, 116, 213; and Larkin, China and Africa, 91.

16. Reardon, The Reluctant Dragon; and Luthi, “Chinese Foreign Policy,” 153–159.

17. Ogunsanwo, China’s Polic in Africa, 89–93; and Reardon, The Reluctant Dragon, 104.

18. Reardon, The Reluctant Dragon, 113–120.

19. Eckstein, Communist China’s Economic Growth, 214, 307.

20. Luthi, “The People’s Republic of China,” 13.

21. Laron, Origins of the Suez Crisis, 107–111, 115–116; and Ginat, Syria and the Doctrine of Arab Neutralism, 111–112.

22. Ali, al-Diblomasiya al-Misryah, 247–259; and Haykal, Milafat al-Sues, 797–800.

23. Quarterly Economic Review of Egypt, Sudan, Libya [hereafter qer], November 1956, 1; and Faiq, Abd al-Nasser, 53.

24. Issawi, Egypt in Revolution, 307–308. For works on Nasserite foreign policy see note 5.

25. Podeh, The Decline of Arab Unity, 68, 133–134; and Issawi, Egypt in Revolution, 309.

26. Mursey, An Arab Common Market, 107–115; and qer, October 1964, 1.

27. qer, October 1960, 5; qer, October 1963, 8; Politisches Archiv des Auswärtigen Amtes [German Foreign Ministry Archive, Berlin], “UAR Economic Activity in Africa,” Cairo to Bonn, 6 August 1964, Bestand B36, Band 74; and Israeli State Archive, Jerusalem [hereafter isa], Kampala to the African Desk, 22 October 1964, RG MFA, File 1047\36.

28. Ismael, The UAR in Africa, 123–157; Faiq, Abd al-Nasser, 77–78; Zaqlama, Nihna wa-Afriqya, 247; Levey, “Israel’s Strategy,” 72; and qer, March, 1965, 4.

29. aj, Memo of Conversation between Tito and Nasser, 12 May 1963, RG KPR, File I-3-a; Jackson, “Free Africa,” 420–422; and Faiq, Abd al-Nasser, 54–60.

30. Zaqlama, Nihna wa-Afriqya, 112–113, 147–148; and isa, “Train Conference in Africa,” African Desk to Lagos, 1 January 1963, RG MFA, File 306\19.

31. qer, July 1957, 1, 6; qer, April 1961, 3–4, 9; qer, January 1963, 3; qer, July 1963, 6; and Nasser-Eddine, UAR–PRC Relations, 379–381.

32. Komaradat, “Friends Fall Apart,” 111–112, 202, 251.

33. Ibid., 247–248; and aj, Memo of Conversation between Tito and Nasser, 18 November 1961, RG KPR, File I-2/14.

34. Jansen, Afro-Asia, 257; and Ogunswano, China’s Policy in Africa, 41–42.

35. isa, “An Afro-Asian Economic Conference in Cairo,” Research Desk – Background Paper, 21 December 1959, RG MFA, File 291\7.

36. Ismael, The UAR in Africa, 59; Ogunswano, China’s Policy in Africa, 43–44; Prashad, The Darker Nations, 100; Nweke, Harmonization, 95–97; isa, “aapso Conference,” Director of the Afro-Asian Desk to Various Embassies, 15 December 1959, RG MFA, File 291\7; isa, “aapso Conference – Meeting of the Executive Committee,” Research Desk – Background Paper, 22 November 1960, RG MFA, File 1028\7; and isa, “The Preparatory Meeting of the ‘Non-aligned’ Countries in Cairo,” Research Desk – Background Paper, 2 June 1961, RG MFA, file 918\15.

37. Rubinstein, Yugoslavia, 111–112, 172; and Toye, The UN, 187.

38. Meredith, The Fate of Africa, 22; and Mazov, A Distant Front, 205.

39. Kaldor, “International Trade,” 501; and Rimmer, “The Crisis,” 25.

40. Kaldor, “International Trade,” 501–502; Rimmer, “The Crisis,” 25; Ward, “Free Africa,” 420; Meredith, The Fate of Africa, 185; Muehlenbeck, Betting on the Africans, 78, 229; and Thompson, Ghana’s Foreign Policy, 164, 207.

41. Thompson, Ghana’s Foreign Policy, 67–68, 150–155, 206–207, 217; and Nweke, Harmonization, 97.

42. Thompson, Ghana’s Foreign Policy, 17, 48, 155, 211, 407–409; Ogunsanwo, China’s Policy in Africa, 89–93; and Ismael, The UAR in Africa, 123–127.

43. Thompson, Ghana’s Foreign Policy; Faiq, Abd al-Nasser; and Ogunsanwo, China’s Policy in Africa.

44. Brennan, “Radio Cairo”; Gerits, “An International Approach”; and Varma, “India and Africa,” 197.

45. Faiq, Abd al-Nasser, 46–48; Ogunswano, China’s Policy in Africa, 172; and Thompson, Ghana’s Foreign Policy, 231–232, 359–361.

46. Jones, “A ‘Segregated’ Asia?”; Parker, “Cold War II”; Hershberg, “‘High-Spirited Confusion’”; Abraham, “From Bandung to nam”; Gettig, “‘Trouble Ahead’”; and Prashad, The Darker Nations, 38–39.

47. Fieldhouse, “The Economic Exploitation of Africa,” 632–633; and Martin, “The Historical, Economic, and Political Bases.”

48. Ismael, The UAR in Africa, 58–67; Thompson, Ghana’s Foreign Policy, 217; and aj, Memo of a Tito–Nasser Conversation, 12 May 1963, RG KPR, File I-3-a.

49. Rakove, Kennedy, Johnson, 79, 88, 197; Muehlenbeck, Betting on the Africans, 85, 123; Faiq, Abd al-Nasser, 136–138; Czech Foreign Ministry Archive, Prague, “Situation in Congo,” Cairo to Foreign Ministry, June 6, 1965, RG TO-T SAR 1965-69, Box 3, Folder 6; and Mazov, A Distant Front, 162.

50. Mazov, A Distant Front, 162, 198–200; and Thompson, Ghana’s Foreign Policy, 157.

51. Stein, India and the Soviet Union, 190; Mabro, “Egypt’s Economic Relations,” 310.

52. Thompson, Ghana’s Foreign Policy, 237–244, 335–336; Issawi, Egypt in Revolution, 307; and Mursey, An Arab Common Market, 107, 119–121.

53. Vitalis, “The Midnight Ride,” 275–276; Ismael, The UAR in Africa, 60; Thompson, Ghana’s Foreign Policy, 156, 201, 211, 356; and Nasser-Eddine, UAR–CPR Relations, 233–234.

54. Frieden, Global Capitalism, 351–355.

55. Wilson, “China’s Economic Relations,” 71; and Kardouche, The UAR in Development, 18.

56. Rakove, Kennedy, Johnson, 205; and Laron, “Stepping Back.”

57. Podeh, The Decline of Arab Unity, 109; Rakove, Kennedy, Johnson, 151; and Zachariah, Nehru, 229–249.

58. Haftel, Regional Economic Institutions.

59. Prashad, The Darker Nations, xv.

60. Prashad, The Poorer Nations; Mason, Global Shift; and White, A Global History.