The Role of German Treaty Making in the Partition of Africa (1980)

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. H. Alexandrowicz
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
West Africa ◽  
East Africa ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
South West ◽  
Law Of Nations ◽  
History Of ◽  
South West Africa ◽  
Legal Character

This chapter examines Germany’s participation in the scramble for African territory, in particular the history of treaty making. It compares pre-nineteenth-century African treaties with treaties concluded subsequently. It draws attention to the undisputed legal character of African treaties concluded under the regime of the classic law of nations which, according to its natural law premises, was a universal and non-discriminatory law operating irrespective of civilisation, religion, race, or continent. It discusses protracted co-existence in South-West Africa under German protection; a mixture of protection and sovereignty in Togo and the Cameroons; and the situation in East Africa where absorption followed soon after the conclusion of treaties.

scholarly journals Retrospective and futuristic idealization: Defining German coloniality after the loss of empire

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 142-157
Author(s):  
Florian Krobb
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
East Africa ◽  
Racial Segregation ◽  
Social Engineering ◽  
Socialist Society ◽  
National Socialist ◽  
South West ◽  
South West Africa ◽  
German East Africa

The article discusses two very different examples of German post-imperial writing as manifestations of a colonialist imaginary that was both retrospective / nostalgic and futuristic / aspirational. They serve to illustrate how colonialist discourse after 1918 shaped attitudes towards colonial space in ways that survived the next historical caesura, that of 1945. Some of the animal stories from former German East Africa assembled in Rudolf Sendke’s book of reminiscences (1925) enact an idealized benevolent and respectful, yet determined and capable role of Germans in unruly and dangerous colonial space, while Adolf Kaempffer, 15 years later, devises a vision of the perfect National Socialist society based on social engineering and racial segregation to be created in an imaginary regained German South-West Africa.

The South-West Africa Case, the New Nations, and International Law

1966 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 375-380
Author(s):  
Sol Picciotto
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
International Law ◽  
The South ◽  
International Court Of Justice ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
South West ◽  
International Court ◽  
South West Africa ◽  
Proper Analysis

The judgment of the International Court of Justice of 18 July 1966 in the South-West Africa case throws revealing light on the role of that Court in the international community. A proper analysis of this case may also help to dispel some of the mystification about international law and the attitude of the new nations to it.

Case Analysis: The ICJ and South West Africa (Namibia): A Retrospective Legal/Political Assessment

1999 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 425-436 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michla Pomerance
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Political Issue ◽  
Law And Politics ◽  
South West ◽  
Legal Questions ◽  
The Icj ◽  
South West Africa ◽  
International Adjudication

No single political issue has engaged the ICJ more than that of South West Africa (Namibia). Over a period ranging from 1949 through 1971, recourse was had to the Court, both in its advisory and contentious capacities, on various aspects of the problem. Even today, after Namibia attained independence, the Court's jurisprudence and the saga of UN-Court relations in this matter continue to intrigue. This is because the questions raised have continuing relevance to many issues bearing on international law and international relations.Much has been, and will be, written on the approach of the Court and of individual judges to a panoply of international legal questions raised in the course of the judicial proceedings. But, in fact, the long tale also offers researchers an enticing fountain of material on the role of law and adjudication in international relations, on the interaction between the UN judicial and political fora and, more broadly, between law and politics. This article focuses mainly on these latter, relatively neglected, aspects because it is with respect to these that the benefit of hindsight offers the ability to reassess and revise some of the earlier assumptions and to note some interesting paradoxes not readily discernible at the time. Perhaps revision of some of the axiomatic propositions long perpetuated in the field will offer better guidance to those seeking to enhance the role of international adjudication in world affairs.

The South West Africa Cases: an Appraisal

1967 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard A. Falk
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Major Question ◽  
International Court Of Justice ◽  
South West ◽  
International Court ◽  
New States ◽  
The Icj ◽  
South West Africa ◽  
International Adjudication

Ethiopia and Liberia instituted litigation in 1960 before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to test the legality of South Africa's administration of the mandated territory of South West Africa. The ICJ received, thereby, an opportunity to deal with a major question of international concern. Hopes were raised that the role of international adjudication would be enhanced by the results of this litigation. The case was also expected to demonstrate to the new states that the procedures and institutions of traditional international law could be used to promote, as well as to retard, their distinctive goals in international life.

scholarly journals The Life-history of the Native Mine Labourer in the Transvaal

1906 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-174 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. G. Irvine ◽  
D. Macaulay
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Life History ◽  
West Africa ◽  
East Coast ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Gold Mines ◽  
Mining Areas ◽  
South West ◽  
History Of ◽  
South West Africa

In the month of June, 1905, no fewer than 99,518 natives were employed on mines and works in the labour districts of the Witwatersrand, and the neighbouring mining areas of Klerksdorp, Heidelberg, and Vereeniging. In addition to these there were also working on the gold mines over 45,000 Chinese labourers. This vast industrial army is recruited from many and in great measure from very distant sources. Of the natives employed during the year ending June, 1905, the whole of British South Africa furnished only just over 32%: less than 2% came from British Central Africa: 60% were drawn from the Southern Portuguese East Coast provinces; and 3.6% from the Portuguese provinces north of latitude 22°. German South-West Africa contributed under 1%, but this area has latterly ceased to be a source of supply.

Vernacular Text-Books in South African Native Schools

Africa ◽  
1935 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clement M. Doke
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
West Africa ◽  
East Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Literary Language ◽  
South West ◽  
Northern Sotho ◽  
South West Africa ◽  
Opening Paragraph

Opening ParagraphIn this survey of vernacular text-books I am confining my attention to the Union of South Africa and the three High Commission Territories of Basutoland, Bechuanaland, and Swaziland. In this area we have five important literary language forms in use, viz. Xhosa and Zulu (belonging to the Nguni cluster of Bantu), and Southern Sotho, Tšwana, and Northern Sotho (belonging to the Sotho cluster). Reference will be made to two other languages spoken in the northern and eastern Transvaal, Venda and Tonga (commonly written as Thonga, and belonging to the cluster of languages spoken in Portuguese East Africa from Delagoa Bay northwards). I do not intend to deal with the languages spoken in the Mandated Territory of South-west Africa, nor with such intrusions as that of Kalanga into the Bechuanaland Protectorate.

‘There was an elephant in the court room’: Reflections on the role of Judge Sir Percy Spender (1897–1985) in theSouth West Africa Cases(1960–1966) after half a century

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-170
Author(s):  
VICTOR KATTAN
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
West Africa ◽  
International Law ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
South West ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
South West Africa ◽  
The Cold War

AbstractThis article argues that theSouth West Africa Caseswere brought to an ignominious end because the cases were about self-determination as much as they were about apartheid. For liberals like Judge Sir Percy Spender, the President of the Court, political systems based on majority rule looked suspiciously like authoritarian regimes modelled on the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It is submitted that, given the controversy surrounding self-determination in international law, Sir Percy wanted to avoid addressing the merits of the cases. Self-determination was the proverbial ‘elephant in the court room’ that Sir Percy wanted to avoid at all costs. This article builds upon earlier archival research on theSouth West Africa Casesby taking a closer look at Sir Percy's role in the cases and his views on self-determination. It is argued that what ‘killed’ the cases was Sir Percy's belief that Ethiopia and Liberia were seeking to ‘legalize’ self-determination with a view to further uniting the Afro-Asian bloc at the United Nations with the Soviet Union against the West.

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