Treachery and Diplomacy - by Sobukwe Odinga (Hardcover)

About the Book

Treachery and Diplomacy shines a light on US-Africa security partnerships, revealing their simmering internal tensions, hidden racial politics, and consequences for peace and democracy.

Book Synopsis

The African allies of the United States are often depicted as mere pawns or clients seeking aid. Yet African leaders have deftly capitalized on security partnerships with the United States in ways that have been widely overlooked. Through skillful negotiating, hosting US military operations, and deploying their soldiers to support Washington's strategic aims, they have advanced their own interests--sometimes at the expense of their citizens.

Treachery and Diplomacy shines a light on US-Africa security partnerships, revealing their simmering internal tensions, hidden racial politics, and consequences for peace and democracy. Sobukwe Odinga explores the contentious relations between the US and key African allies--Liberia, Ethiopia, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo), and Uganda--from the Cold War to the War on Terror. He brings to life the diplomatic gambits of leaders such as William Tubman, Mobutu Sese Seko, and Yoweri Museveni, documenting how they prodded Washington to back them in regional conflicts, increase aid, and temper criticisms of their domestic policies. Odinga also considers the African American political elites who denounced and championed US-Africa security partnerships--in some moments undercutting the influence of African leaders, in others abetting their authoritarianism. Connecting American racial thought, Pan-Africanism, and Black transnationalism to US security policy toward Africa, Treachery and Diplomacy offers new insight into how African governments have pursued their own agendas.

Review Quotes

This book is a pathbreaking and startlingly original study of racial politics, Pan-Africanist rhetorics, and the maneuvering of moderate African American political leaders in the forging of US-Africa statecraft. Odinga tells a real-world story of power, stealth, and intrigue in elegant, captivating prose. A singular, groundbreaking contribution to political science, foreign relations, and African and African American studies, Treachery and Diplomacy is an urgently needed guide to US-Africa relations that offers incredible insight into African agency in the context of severe power asymmetries.--Jemima Pierre, author of The Predicament of Blackness: Postcolonial Ghana and the Politics of Race

Odinga's original, illuminating history of US-Africa security relations highlights African allies as active players and capable negotiators with successive US administrations. In addition, the book provides a nuanced characterization of African American politicians and activists, demonstrating the range of positions taken by these figures, both in support of US-Africa security partnerships and against them.--Robert Vitalis, author of White World Order, Black Power Politics: The Birth of American International Relations

About the Author

Sobukwe Odinga is an assistant professor in the Department of African American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.