ABSTRACT
Pan-Africanism was an important influence on the rise of nationalist movements in Africa in the first half of the twentieth century, but after decolonization its impact waned as the new states were reluctant to compromise their independence. In many colonies the imperial Powers had clear ideas about what they wanted to achieve, but found that circumstances required them to make compromises acceptable to African opinion. The significance of the Congo Crisis for African international politics was not so much that it brought the Cold War into the continent, for in 1960 the Soviet Union clearly lacked the capability to intervene effectively, but that it further radicalized those regimes that were appalled by the West's connivance in the ousting of Lumumba. In the second half of the twentieth century, Africa was shaped to a considerable degree by events and trends in international politics.
