Architecture, diplomacy and soft power: Israel and Arieh Sharon’s Obafemi Awolowo University campus, Ile-Ife, Nigeria

This study examines the mechanism of Israel’s utilisation of architecture as a diplomatic relations tool with African countries from the late 1950s to the early 1970s through Arieh Sharon’s design of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) campus, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Israel’s 1955 Bandung conference exclusion birthed its pursuit of projects which were, in effect, a form of soft power, to gain influence in African countries. Tracing the development of Israel’s aid-in-practice strategy, African implementation and OAU campus project application illustrates soft power’s workings. Sharon’s OAU role in the early years and his deployment of a distinctive campus architecture further emphasise the attempt to attract the university’s patrons. Although Sharon’s OAU project involvement suffered interruptions and modifications, it produced a modernist architectural masterpiece. An earlier compromise to retain soft power also allowed Sharon’s continued participation in the project when Nigeria–Israel diplomatic relations ruptured. Hence, Sharon’s OAU campus shows architecture as a soft power in international diplomacy.