Book Review: Africa: African Opposition in South Africa: The Failure of Passive Resistance
| DOI | 10.1177/002070207002500331 |
| Date | 01 September 1970 |
| Author | A. M. Keppel-Jones |
| Published date | 01 September 1970 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BOOK REVIEWS
663
hence of
the
OAU'S
inability
to act
effectively.
Catherine
Hoskyns'
case
study thus
underlines
the
limited
success
that
the
oAU
has
had
in
dealing
with
conflicts
between
its
members.
At
best,
it
has
exerted
a
favourable,
though
limited
influence
on
the
attitudes
of
states
toward
the
use
of
force.
Normatively,
it
has
constituted a
collective conscience
that
no
African
government
can
entirely
afford
to
ignore;
it
has reinforced
the
general
principle
that
resort
to force
is
immoral,
if
not
illegal.
Institu-
tionally,
the
oAu
has
helped
to contain
those
disputes
that
did
arise.
Its
effectiveness
has, however,
rested
less
in
its
role as
mediator
than
in
its
capacity
as
a
forum.
As
for
the
final
goal
of
decolonization,
Dr.
Cervenka's
treatment
tends
to
be
too
narrowly
legalistic and
institutional
in
its
approach.
From
his
description
of
the
African
Liberation
Committee
(ALc)
and
of
the
various
proposals
for
reforming the
committee's
make-up
and
activities
it
is
possible
nonetheless
to
infer
some of
the
reasons
for
the
ALc's
general
ineffectiveness up
to
the
present.
In
part,
this
has
been
due
to
the
inefficiency
of
the
ALc
(its
high
administrative
costs
and
the
way
the
funds
were
managed);
in
part,
to
the
restraint
that
neighbour-
ing
states,
such
as
Malawi,
Congo-Kinshasa,
and
Zambia,
have placed
on
the
operation
of
the
liberation
movements
while
on
their
territory.
In
the
last
analysis,
the
inadequacy
of
independent
Africa's
support
is
a
function
of
the
economic
and
military
weakness
of
the
African
states.
Internal
disorders as
well
have
tended
to
focus
the
attention
of
African
leaders
on
their
domestic
problems, to
the
inevitable
detriment
of
the
anti-colonial
struggle.
Must
we
conclude
that
the
OAU
is
little
more
than
a
paper
tiger,
a
mere
expression
of
hope
for
the
future?
It
has
certainly
become
fashion-
able
to
discredit
the
OAU
and,
indeed,
the
African
leaders
have
en-
couraged
this
criticism
by
exaggerating
their
expectations
of
what
it
can
accomplish.
Dr.
Cervenka,
however,
avoids
either
extreme,
steering
clear
of
both
the
Scylla
of
excessive
optimism
and
the
Charybdis
of
utter
despair.
While
pointing
to its
institutional
shortcomings
and
the
intra-African
divisions
that
have
undermined
its
effectiveness,
he
notes
quite
rightly
that
the
oAu
has managed
not
only
to
survive
but
to
grow.
To
the
extent
that
"its
future
development
will
depend
on
the
degree
to
which
both
the
governments
and
the
peoples
of
Africa
understand
its
workings,"
Dr.
Cervenka
has
undoubtedly
made
a most
useful
contri-
bution to
the
growth
of
continental
unity.
University
of
Toronto
ROBERT
0.
MAATTHEWS
African
Opposition
in
South
Africa:
The
Failure
of
Passive Resistance.
By
EDWARD
Fsrr.
Stanford:
Hoover
Institution
on
War,
Revolution,
and
Peace.
1967.
xiv,
223pp.
$7.50.
Up
to
the
crisis
of
1960,
when
it
was suppressed,
the
African
National
Congress was
by
far
the
most
important
political
organ
of
the
dis-
franchised
Africans of
South
Africa.
As
it
purported to
represent
two-
thirds
of
the
country's
population,
it
might
have
been
expected
to
loom
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