Recent scholarship in International Relations (IR) has started to study the meaning and implications of a non-Western world. With this comes the need for a new paradigm of IR theory that is more global, open, inclusive, and able to capture the voices and experiences of both Western and non-Western worlds. This book investigates why Africa has been marginalised in IR discipline and theory and how this issue can be addressed in the context of the emerging Global IR paradigm. To have relevance for Africa, a new IR theory needs to be more inclusive, intellectually negotiated and holistically steeped in the African context. In this innovative volume, each author takes a critical look at existing IR paradigms and offers a unique perspective based on the African experience. Following on from Amitav Acharya and Barry Buzan’s work, Non-Western International Relations Theory, it develops and advances non-Western IR theory and the idea of Global IR. This volume will be of key interest to scholars and students of African politics, international relations, IR theory and comparative politics.

This book examines key emergent trends related to aspects of power, sovereignty, conflict, peace, development, and changing social dynamics in the African context. It challenges conventional IR precepts of authority, politics and society, which have proven to be so inadequate in explaining African processes. Rather, this edited collection analyses the significance of many of the uncharted dimensions of Africa's international relations, such as the respatialisation of African societies through migration, and the impacts this process has had on state power; the various ways in which both formal and informal authority and economies are practised; and the dynamics and impacts of new transnational social movements on African politics. Finally, attention is paid to Africa's place in a shifting global order, and the implications for African international relations of the emergence of new world powers and/or alliances. This edition includes a new preface by the editors, which brings the findings of the book up-to-date, and analyses the changes that are likely to impact upon global governance and human development in policy and practice in Africa and the wider world post-2015.

This book discusses the prospects for the development of the African continent as part of the emerging system of international relations in the twenty-first century. African countries are playing an increasingly important part in the current system of international relations. Nevertheless, even 60 years after gaining their independence, most of them are confronted with regional and global issues that are directly related to their colonial past and its influence. Due to Africa’s wealth of natural and geopolitical resources, the possibility of interference in the internal affairs of African countries on the part of new and traditional global actors remains very real. Leading Africanists, together with international scholars from both international relations and African studies, examine the experience of decolonization, the impact of the emergence of a unipolar world on the African continent, and the growing influence of new international actors on the African continent in the twenty-first century. In addition, the importance of African countries’ foreign policy concepts and ideological attitudes in the post-bipolar period is revealed. “This volume strengthens the intellectual bridge between Russian, African and Western scholars of international relations. Strongly recommended!” Vladimir G. Shubin, Institute for African Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences “This book presents a wide range of prominent global scholars who bring a wealth of knowledge on the subject of Africa and the world.” Gilbert Khadiagala, Jan Smuts Professor of International Relations and Director of the African Centre for the Study of the USA (ACSUS) at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. “As a genuine contribution to the field of international relations and Global South Agency, this book should be in every institution of higher education’s library.” Lembe Tiky, Director of Academic Development, International Studies Association.

Comprehensive and engaging, this timely introduction to Africa’s international relations explores how power, interests, and ideas influence interactions both among the continent’s states and between African states and other actors in the global arena. How has history shaped the international relations of African states and peoples? What role does identity play? How are foreign policies linked to domestic political dynamics, and especially to the pursuit of regime security? How are states grappling with the tensions between sovereignty and external pressures? These are among the questions answered as the authors address a wide range of ongoing and emerging challenges, all in historical and theoretical context. In addition, a case study at the end of each chapter illustrates key concepts and reflects an ongoing debate. The result is an ideal text for students, as well as an invaluable resource for researchers and policymakers. -- ‡c From publisher's description.

This innovative book responds to an existing demand for taking Africa out of a place of exception and marginality, and placing it at the center of international relations and world politics. Bringing together a number of scholars from various disciplinary backgrounds to stage a critical intervention into the problematic ways Africa is accounted for in the dominant discourses of international relations and global politics, it challenges the structural and epistemic biases of IR that render the contributions of the continent invisible, and situates the continent as a global region that exists beyond notions of lack, disorder, and failure. Through these interventions, the volume contributes to a rethinking of IR, and the conditions of possibility for imagining a world otherwise beyond frames that fetishize Africa paradoxically as transparent and invisible.

This textbook on power, wealth, global order, and international relations is designed for students taking introductory courses in international relations and African studies. Challenging the intellectual domination of the north, this book shows what the world and its patterns of power, wealth, and privilege look like from an African perspective of transborder political and economic interaction in today’s world. Students are empowered to become active players on the global stage and to contribute to changing these structures and institutions for the better. Up-to-date advice is provided on how to use the Internet and how to pursue careers in international relations. A glossary, list of acronyms, bibliography, index, maps, and biographies of important people mentioned in the text are also included.

Locating Africa on the global stage, this book examines and compares external involvement in the continent, exploring the foreign policies of major states and international organizations towards Africa. The contributors work within a political economy framework in order to study how these powers have attempted to stimulate democracy, peace and prosperity in the context of neo-liberal hegemony and ask whom these attempts have benefited and failed.

An important new discussion of Africa's place in the international system. This volume discusses Africa's place in the international system, examining the way in which the Westphalian system, in light of the impact of globalization and transnational networks, continues to play a major role in the structuring of Africa's international relations. The book provides a solid empirical analysis of key global players in Africa - France, the UK, the US, Japan, Germany, the EU and the UN - and of their policies towards the region. In the context of the 'war against terrorism', African political stability becomes a consideration of increasing importance. By analyzing the relevance of the states in the North, this book challenges conventional wisdom in recent international relations thinking. It applies the concept of an 'international policy community' to bridge the gap between the 'domestic' and the 'international', explaining why Africa retains a role in global politics out of any proportion to its economic weight.

This title examines Sub-Saharan Africa's relations with states such as the US, India, China, the EU, and Britain as well as with non-state actors. "The International Relations of Sub-Saharan Africa" is an in-depth examination Africa's place in global politics. The book provides a comprehensive and critical appraisal of the ways in which peace, prosperity, and democracy are being advanced (or restricted) by the activities of the great powers in Africa, including non-state actors, as well as who benefits from these policies and who does not. The book is a needed comparative study of the role of great powers and 'new' actors such as China and India in Africa within the wider context of neo-liberal hegemony. It fills a gap in the literature and will be of interest to any student of the continent. Its focus on external actors contributes to providing a fuller picture of Africa's place in the global political economy and how the continent interacts with the rest of the world. This is an essential work for anyone researching issues in international relations, comparative foreign policies, and African politics.

Comprehensive and engaging, this timely introduction to Africa's international relations explores how power, interests, and ideas influence interactions both among the continent's states and between African states and other actors in the global arena. How has history shaped the international relations of African states and peoples? What role does identity play? How are foreign policies linked to domestic political dynamics, and especially to the pursuit of regime security? How are states grappling with the tensions between sovereignty and external pressures? These are among the questions answered as the authors address a wide range of ongoing and emerging challenges, all in historical and theoretical context. In addition, a case study at the end of each chapter illustrates key concepts and reflects an ongoing debate. The result is an ideal text for students, as well as an invaluable resource for researchers and policymakers.