Africa and International Relations in the 21st Century

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.

Scarlett Cornelissen is a Professor at the Department of Political Science at Stellenbosch University, South Africa.
Fantu Cheru is Senior Researcher at the African Studies Centre, Leiden & Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, The Netherlands.
Timothy M. Shaw is Visiting Professor at the University of Massachusetts Boston, USA, and Emeritus Professor at the University of London, UK.

Introduction: Africa and International Relations in the 21st Century: Still Challenging Theory?; S.Cornelissen, F.Cheru & T.M.Shaw
PART I: RECONCEPTUALIZING AUTHORITY AND SOVEREIGNTY
Africa as an Agent of International Relations Knowledge; K.Smith
Collectivist Worldview: Its Challenge to International Relations; T.K.Tieku
Authority, Sovereignty and Africa's Changing Regimes of Territorialization; U.Engel & G.R.Olson
PART II: INNOVATIONS FROM BELOW: TERRITORY AND IDENTITY
Bringing Identity into International Relations: Reflections on Nationalism, Nativism and Xenophobia in Africa; S.J.Ndlovu-Gatsheni
Towards New Approaches to Statehood and Governance-Building in Africa: The Somali Crisis Reconsidered; L.W.Moe
Diasporas and African Development: The Struggle for Sustainable Peace and Development in Sierra Leone; A.Zack-Williams
The Transformation of Sovereign Territoriality: A Case Study of South African Immigration Control; D.Vigneswaran & L.B.Landau
PART III: INSECURITIES
Transnationalism, Africa's 'Resource Curse' and Contested Sovereignties: The Struggle for Nigeria's Niger Delta; C.I.Obi
Security Privatization and the New Contours of Africa's Security Governance; R.Abrahamsen
Engendering (In)Security and Conflict in African International Relations; J.L.Parpart & L.Thompson
Conclusion: What Futures for African International Relations?; T.M.Shaw, F.Cheru & S.Cornelissen