Bandung as the call for a better development project: US, British, French and Gold Coast perceptions of the Afro-Asian Conference (1955)

Abstract

How important international actors such as France, Britain and the United States, viewed the Bandung Conference of 1955 is heavily debated. Furthermore, it remains unclear how the Gold Coast, an emerging power in Africa, perceived the Afro-Asian meeting. This article seeks to illuminate those positions on Bandung through a multi-centric analysis and by reflecting on the importance of Africa for the Afro-Asian agenda. It is argued that, rather than the Cold War, racial solidarity or anti-colonialism, it was development and modernisation that shaped the response of conference observers.