La cooperazione afro-araba e il conflitto arabo-israeliano: apice e declino di una convergenza politica (1973-1986)

Abstract

Afro-Arab Cooperation and the Arab-Israeli Conflict: Rise and Decline of a Political Convergence (1973–1986)

Afro-Arab cooperation emerged in the 1970s, against the backdrop of the economic and political transformations that followed the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. These shifts fueled unprecedented attention to South-South cooperation, conceived as a strategy to reduce dependence on industrialized economies. The Afro-Arab region, already shaped by earlier forms of transnational solidarity, positioned itself at the forefront of these developments. With the establishment of BADEA (the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa), Afro-Arab relations were institutionalized through the joint coordination of the Organization of African Unity and the League of Arab States, culminating in the first Afro-Arab Summit in 1977. However, persistent tensions arising from divergent priorities among the participants limited the effectiveness of common institutions. This article examines these dynamics, focusing particularly on the implications of the Arab-Israeli conflict for Afro-Arab solidarity, and showing how disputes over Israel’s involvement in African development programs were deeply intertwined with broader debates on the reform of international economic relations.