Author: Mohamed Lakhdar Ghettas

Imprint: I.B.Tauris
Publisher: I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd.
Hardback
ISBN: 9781784535155
Publication Date: 29 Aug 2017
Number of Pages: 320

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Algeria-Cold-War-International-Relations/dp/178453515X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1512732015&sr=1-1&keywords=ghettas

“Throughout the Cold War, Africa was a theatre for superpower rivalry. That the U.S and the Soviet Union used countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to their own advantage is well-known. Sub-Saharan countries also exploited Cold War hostilities in turn. But what role did countries in North Africa play?This book offers an international history of U.S-Algerian relations at the height of the Cold War. The Algerian president, Houari Boumediene, actively adjusted Algeria’s foreign policy to promote the country’s national development, pursuing its own commitment to non-alignment and ‘Third World’ leadership. Algeria’s foreign policy was directly opposed to that of the U.S on major issues such as the Arab-Israeli conflict and Western Sahara conflict and the Algerian government was avowedly socialist. Yet, as this book outlines, Algeria was able to negotiate a position for itself between the U.S and the Soviet bloc, winning support from both and becoming a key actor in international affairs. Based on materials from recently opened archives, this book sheds new light on the importance of Boumediene’s era in Algeria and will be an essential resource for historians and political scientists alike.”

Reviews:

“This richly detailed assessment of Algeria’s international posture during the Cold War provides important insights into the dynamics of Algeria’s view of itself and the progressive image it sought to project to the outside world, an image derived from its own revolutionary heritage. The complexity of Algerian-American relations during the turbulent decades of the Cold War receives especially insightful treatment. Students and scholars alike will learn much from this
deeply informed and carefully crafted study.”
John P. Entelis, Professor of Political Science,
Fordham University

“This deeply researched book argues that an understanding of Algeria’s foreign policy in the 1970s, when President Houari Boumediene tried to assert a leadership role for his recently independent country, can help us understand much about Algeria today. I think he makes a
convincing case, and along the way provides a great deal of useful background about the issues that still confront Algeria.”
William B. Quandt, Professor of Politics, Emeritus,
University of Virginia; author of Revolution and Political
Leadership: Algeria, 1954 – 1968

Posted by lakhdarghettas

Dr. Lakhdar Ghettas Author of Algeria and the Cold War: International Relations and the Struggle for Autonomy (London & NY: IB Tauris, 2018)