Who knew Muhammar Khaddafi read E.H. Carr?

The New York Times’ Jason McLure reports that Libya leader Muamar Qaddafi did not take well to losing his perch as the head of the African Union:  Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi , the Libyan leader, delivered a rambling rebuke of fellow African heads of state Sunday after they chose to replace him as chairman of the African Union and ...

By , a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast.

The New York Times’ Jason McLure reports that Libya leader Muamar Qaddafi did not take well to losing his perch as the head of the African Union

Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi , the Libyan leader, delivered a rambling rebuke of fellow African heads of state Sunday after they chose to replace him as chairman of the African Union and failed to endorse his push for the creation of a United States of Africa.

“I do not believe we can achieve something concrete in the coming future,” said Colonel Qaddafi, before introducing President Bingu wa Mutharika of Malawi as his successor at the African Union’s annual summit meeting, held in Addis Ababa. “The political elite of our continent lacks political awareness and political determination. The world is changing into 7 or 10 countries, and we are not even aware of it.” (emphasis added)

This is interesting.  It would appear that Qaddafi has been reading himself some E.H. Carr.  Carr argued in Nationalism and After that the nation-state eventually the world would agglomerate itself into about 10-15 superstates.  Which is fine, except that Carr wrote his book in 1945 — and the world has been trending in the exact opposite direction ever since. 

Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner

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