Seminar: Unlikely Allies: Zambia, Yugoslavia and the Quest for Nonaligned Economic Development

Ensuring economic development for a postcolonial African nation was in itself a monumental task. Yet for landlocked Zambia, development was influenced by more than a colonial legacy. Zambian development issues were directly tied to the volatile situation in Southern Africa, and its methods of negotiating this situation were deeply influenced by the Cold War.
True economic allies in the Cold War were difficult to come by, as each nation came to the table with its own, often political, agenda. The Nonalignment Movement provided an alternative for nations of the Third World who sought political sovereignty. However, nonalignment was as much about economics as it was about politics.
As leaders of the Nonalignment Movement, both Josip Broz Tito of Yugoslavia and Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia recognized the need for nonaligned economic development. Although seemingly unlikely allies, the Cold War brought these two leaders together – in friendship and in a mutually beneficial economic partnership for their nations.