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THE POLITICS OF REGIONALISM AND FEDERATION IN EAST AFRICA, 1958–1964

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2018

CHRIS VAUGHAN Open the ORCID record for CHRIS VAUGHAN [Opens in a new window]
CHRIS VAUGHAN*
Affiliation:
Liverpool John Moores University
*
School of Humanities and Social Science, Liverpool John Moores University, John Foster Building, Liverpool, l3 5uzc.m.vaughan@ljmu.ac.uk
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Abstract

Recent scholarship discussing the ‘federal moment’ in world history after 1945 has re-examined alternatives to the nation-state in the years of decolonization, arguing against any inevitable transition from empire to nation. This article focuses on the case of East Africa, where federation seemed an attractive and likely prospect by 1963, yet never came to pass. Here, the politics of federation should be understood as a constitutive part of the contested nation-state-making process, rather than a viable alternative to it. For the leaders who initiated the politics of federation in the 1960s, regional unity promised the further centralization of power and a means of defeating ‘tribalist’ opposition. For their opponents, federation was seized on as a means of promoting the autonomy of provinces or kingdoms within a larger federal unit. Ultimately, regionalist aspiration was inseparable from national politics, and negotiations among the leaders of East African states demanded the definition of national interests which divided states rather than united them. Such conclusions suggest that historians of the federal moment might more productively focus on the functions of federalist discourse in the making of nation-states rather than debating the viability of federalist projects.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 62 , Issue 2 , June 2019 , pp. 519 - 540
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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Footnotes

The research for this article was kindly funded by the British Academy (SG152203). I am especially grateful to the anonymous reviewers and Cherry Leonardi, Justin Willis, Emma Hunter, Gerard McCann, Julie McArthur, and members of the History Department at Liverpool John Moores University for insightful comments and support in the process of publishing this article.

References

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2 Vass, Nairobi, to secretary of state, 27 June 1963, College Park, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), RG59, POL E AFR, box 3893.

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6 Alongside Nye, the most useful work is Leys, C. and Robson, P., Federation in East Africa: opportunities and problems (London, 1965)Google Scholar.

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11 For concise critiques of Cooper and the ‘federal turn’ more widely, see Michael Goebel, After empire must come nation?, accessed on 21 July 2017 at https://medium.com/afro-asian-visions/after-empire-must-come-nation-cd220f1977c; Moyn, Samuel, ‘Fantasies of federalism’, Dissent, 62 (2015), pp. 145–51CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Drayton, R., ‘Federal utopias and the realities of imperial power’, Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, 37 (2017), pp. 401–6CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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19 Similar logics drove the British to experiment with federalism in other parts of their empire in the years after the Second World War, notably including Central Africa, the West Indies, Malaysia, and South Arabia – all of which failed to survive in the form intended by the British, each for their own reasons, though also presenting similarities with the problems noted above in East Africa. Notoriously, the Central African Federation was strongly associated with white settler privilege, which posed a credibility challenge for pro-federalist African politicians in neighbouring East Africa trying to distance themselves from accusations of neo-colonialism in their pursuit of a policy also favoured by the British. On these cases, see Cohen, A., The politics and economics of decolonization in Africa (London, 2017)Google Scholar; Mawby, S., Ordering independence (Basingstoke, 2012)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Jones, Matthew, Conflict and confrontation in South East Asia, 1961–1965 (Cambridge, 2002)Google Scholar.

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21 Will Reno has noted the significance of this imperative for anti-colonial and majority rule rebels, but the point can also be made of more conventional nationalist politicians. See his Warfare in independent Africa (Cambridge, 2011), pp. 37–118CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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25 Cox, Pan-Africanism, p. 31, makes this observation in regards to Kenya, but it could equally be applied to PAFMECA's involvement in the politics of Uganda and indeed Zanzibar.

26 Acting chief secretary Tanganyika to chief secretary, Nyasaland, 8 Dec. 1958, TNA, FCO 141/17923.

27 They were more successful in brokering a short-lived alliance between the Zanzibar Nationalist Party and the Afro-Shirazi Party in Zanzibar which became known as the Freedom Committee alliance. See Glassman, J., War of words, war of stones (Bloomington, IN, 2011), pp. 151–4Google Scholar.

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29 Material in this paragraph taken from Kampala Special Branch report on the PAFMECA conference at Mbale, 26 Oct. 1960, TNA, FCO 141/17924.

30 ‘The proposal for an East African federation and reaction to it in Kenya’, Special Branch, Nairobi, 25 Feb. 1961, TNA, FCO 141/7075.

31 Reith, Kampala, to Hickman, June 1963, TNA, DO 168/73.

32 Ibid. Ideas that Ethiopia, Somalia, Rwanda, and Burundi might also join a federation were mooted at various times, but by 1963 it became clear that a tighter federation within British East Africa, building on existing colonial institutions, was the only viable option being discussed.

33 Kenyatta had led the Kenya African Union from 1947 until his detention from 1952 to 1961 on (false) charges of orchestrating the Mau Mau rebellion.

34 Sunday News, Tanganyika, 15 Oct. 1961, TNA, CO 822/2729.

35 Nye, Pan-Africanism, p. 184.

36 Salisbury to Brubeck, 25 June 1963, Vass, Nairobi, to secretary of state, 27 June 1963, NARA, RG59, POL E AFR, box 3893.

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38 Vass, Nairobi, to secretary of state, 7 June 1963, NARA RG 59, POL E AFR, box 3893.

39 MacDonald to Sandys, 7 June 1963, TNA, DO 168/73.

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43 American consul Nairobi to secretary of state, 3 July 1963, NARA RG59, POL E AFR, box 3893.

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52 LeTocq to Chadwick, 17 July 1963, TNA, DO 168/73.

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65 Nairobi to secretary of state, 14 May 1964, NARA RG 59, POL 3 AFR E, box 1873.

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69 Dar es Salaam to secretary of state, 4 Aug. 1964, NARA POL 3 AFR E, box 1873.

70 Taifaleo, 5 Aug. 1964, TNA, DO 213/167. The Daily Nation expressed similar sentiments on 18 Aug., ibid.

71 Attwood, Nairobi, to secretary of state, 25 Apr. 1964, NARA RG59, POL 3 AFR E, box 1873; see also Mazrui, Tanzania, p. 277.

72 Deming, Kampala, to secretary of state, 22 June 1965, NARA RG59, POL 3 AFR E, box 1873.

73 Leonhart, Dar es Salaam, to secretary of state, 19 Oct. 1963, NARA RG59, POL 3 AFR E, box 3893.

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76 www.eac.int/integration-pillars; www.thecitizen.co.tz/magazine/politicalreforms/Finally--EA-nations-agree-to-disagree-on-federation/1843776–3470014-llosg2/index.html, 30 Nov. 2016.

77 The term also used by Julie MacArthur in a recent paper: ‘Erasing borders? Mobility, territoriality, and citizenship in the East African federation’, British Institute in Eastern Africa, Nairobi, 29 July 2017.