Diacronie. Studi di Storia Contemporanea (Dec 2015)
Corone, guerrieri e redentori. Il culto della personalità nelle dittature militari dell’Africa subsahariana negli anni della Guerra Fredda
Abstract
One of the most controversial aspects of the decolonization processes that have affected Africa certainly refers to the role of the military in political transformations and the formation of new independent states. Within the dynamics related to the consolidation of dictatorial governments, it plays a key issue the question of the construction of the personality cult. What role the exaltation of the leader’s figure had in the search for legitimacy for power won by force of arms? What the propaganda mechanisms put in place to promote this cult? The paper proposes a comparative study of these phenomena in relation to the various military dictatorships in sub-Saharan Africa in the decades of the Cold War.
