Gordian knot apartheid and the unmaking of the liberal world order Irwin, Ryan M. creator author. text bibliography Electronic books. dissertations. Academic theses. Thèses et écrits académiques. enk 2012 monographic eng remote 1 online resource (xi, 244 pages) Writing more than one hundred years ago, African American scholar W.E.B. Du Bois speculated that the great dilemma of the twentieth century would be the problem of "the color line." Nowhere was the dilemma of racial discrimination more entrenched-and more complex-than South Africa. Gordian Knot examines South Africa's freedom struggle in the years surrounding African decolonization, using the global apartheid debate to explore the way new nation-states changed the international community during the mid-twentieth century. At the highpoint of decolonization, South Africa's problems shaped a transnational conversation about nationhood. Arguments about racial justice, which crested as Europe relinquished imperial control of Africa and the Caribbean, elided a deeper contest over the meaning of sovereignty, territoriality, and development. Based on research in African, American, and European archives, Gordian Knot advances a bold new interpretation about African decolonization's relationship to American power. In so doing, it promises to shed light on U.S. foreign relations with the Third World and recast understandings of the fate of liberal internationalism after World War II Introduction: Opening the curtain -- Part one. Winds of change -- Architects and earthquakes -- Defining the debate -- Africa for the Africans -- Part two. White redoubt -- Halls of justice -- The status quo -- Looking outward -- Conclusion: toward a new order. Ryan M. Irwin. Includes bibliographical references and index. f-sa--- South Africa Politics and government 1961-1978 Apartheid Political aspects South Africa Self-determination, National South Africa Decolonization South Africa South Africa Foreign relations Afrique du Sud Politique et gouvernement 1961-1978 Apartheid Aspect politique Afrique du Sud Droit des peuples à disposer d'eux-mêmes Afrique du Sud Décolonisation Afrique du Sud Afrique du Sud Relations extérieures HISTORY Africa South General HISTORY Africa South Republic of South Africa Decolonization Diplomatic relations Politics and government Self-determination, National South Africa Apartheid Entkolonialisierung Südafrika Apartheid Zuid-Afrika 1961-1978 fast DT1945 .I79 2012eb 968.06 15.80 Gordian knot Irwin, Ryan M. Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2012 (DLC) 2012003122 (OCoLC)774867694 Oxford studies in international history 9780199855629 0199855625 1283576627 9781283576628 9780199979882 019997988X 9780199855612 0199855617 http://proxy.library.tamu.edu/login?url=https://academic.oup.com/book/25832 N$T 120827 20260318191133.0 in00005708855 eng