Nathaniel Powell

Nathaniel obtained his PhD in International History from the Graduate Institute. His dissertation focused on French military interventions in Africa during the 1970s and early 1980s. He has recently published a book entitled France’s Wars in Chad: Military Intervention and Decolonization in Africa with Cambridge University Press (2021). His current research continues to focus on postcolonial Franco-African relations, with a particular interest in the relationship between French and various African intelligence agencies. He is also working on a project on the Cold War in Mobutu’s Zaire.

 

Selected publications
“The ‘Cuba of the West?’ France’s Cold War in Zaire, 19771978.” Journal of Cold War Studies. Forthcoming

“The UNHCR and Zimbabwean Refugees in Mozambique, 19751980.” Refugee Survey Quarterly. 32, no. 4:4165. 2013.

“The Claustre Affair: A Hostage Crisis, France, and Civil War in Chad, 19741977,” in Hanhimäki, Jussi and Bernhard Blumenau (ed). An International History of Terrorism. Western and Nonwestern Experiences. Routledge, 2013.

“La France, les EtatsUnis et la Force interafricaine au Zaïre (19781979),” Relations internationales, 2012/2 (n. 150).

 

He has also contributed a paper to the series Papiers d’actualité of the Foundation:

Thirty Years of War: Soviet Legacies and Today’s Challenges in Afghanistan