Mecca of Revolution: Algeria, Decolonization, and the Third World Order

Mecca of Revolution: Algeria, Decolonization, and the Third World Order
ISBN-10
0199899142
ISBN-13
9780199899142
Category
History
Pages
388
Language
English
Published
2016
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Author
Jeffrey James Byrne

Description

Amid the burgeoning literature on the connections between the global north and the global south, Mecca of Revolution is a pure example of post-colonial, or "south-south," international history. Through an examination of Algeria's interactions with the wider world, from the beginning of its warof independence to the fall of its first post-colonial regime, the Third Worldist perspective on the twentieth century comes into view. Hitherto dominant historical paradigms such as the Cold War are situated in the larger context of decolonization and the re-inclusion of the large majority ofhumanity in international affairs. At the same time, groundbreaking research in the archives of Algeria and a half-dozen other countries enable Mecca of Revolution to advance beyond the focus on discourse analysis that has typified previous studies of Third World internationalism. It demystifiesterms like Non-Alignment, Afro-Asianism, and Bandung, and sheds new light on the relationships between the emergent elites of Africa, the Middle East, Asian, and Latin America. As one of the most prominent sites of post-colonial socialist experimentation and an epicenter of transnational guerrilla activity, Algeria was at the heart of efforts to transform global political and economic structures. Yet, the book also shows how Third Worldism evolved from a subversivetransnational phenomenon into a mode of elite cooperation that reinforced the authority of the post-colonial state. In so doing, the Third World movement played a key role in the construction of the totalizing international order of the late-twentieth century. Ultimately, Mecca of Revolution showsthe "post-colonial world" is all of our world.

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