ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how the Organization of African Unity functions (OAU), in an objective sense, in African politics. It focuses on how this is perceived by member states and Secretariat functionaries and African non-governmental circles. This is followed by an assessment of the OAU with regard to major queries or issue: its formation in 1963; its internal functioning; and its performance in the anti-colonial struggle and functioning in (inter-)African politics. The chapter provides an appraisal of the OAU’s ideology and related aspects. In the OAU there is no state powerful enough to force or persuade all others to conform. Even the more influential members are forced to negotiate with the weaker ones, which successfully reject the legitimacy of claims to the status of continental hegemon on their part. Some OAU postures are rather ambiguous, such as the criticism of trade links with South Africa in so far as these were unnecessarily expanded or engaged in openly.
