This handbook fills a large gap in the current knowledge about the critical role of Africa in the changing global order. By connecting the past, present, and future in a continuum that shows the paradox of existence for over one billion people, the book underlines the centrality of the African continent to global knowledge production, the global economy, global security, and global creativity. Bringing together perspectives from top Africa scholars, it actively dispels myths of the continent as just a passive recipient of external influences, presenting instead an image of an active global agent that astutely projects soft power. Unlike previous handbooks, this book offers an eclectic mix of historical, contemporary, and interdisciplinary approaches that allow for a more holistic view of the many aspects of Africa’s relations with the world.

This handbook constitutes a specialist single compendium that analyses African political economy in its theoretical, historical and policy dimensions. It emphasizes the uniqueness of African political economy within a global capitalist system that is ever changing and complex. Chapters in the book discuss how domestic and international political economic forces have shaped and continue to shape development outcomes on the continent. Contributors also provoke new thinking on theories and policies to better position the continent’s economy to be a critical global force. The uniqueness of the handbook lies in linking theory and praxis with the past, future, and various dimensions of the political economy of Africa.

This book focuses on marginal actors in the global order. Such a perspective is often missing as global order analysis is often biased towards exploring large powerful actors and equating their relations with global order. Such an approach is not only dated but also analytically incomplete. It is because of the increasingly decentred nature of global order, that marginal actors and their relations, tactics, strategies and approaches matter for global order as they matter for these actors. The book starts by providing an analytical framework exploring different policy options for African agency which are located along a nexus of choices ranging from accommodation, engagement to system transformation. The selection of a particular interaction type is argued to be dependent on external opportunity structures in the form of different global orders reaching from competitive polarity to dispersed forms of authority or even non-polarity. In addition to these external conditions, the ability to generate meaningful African agency facilitates a greater role in global order. Empirically, the book covers four policy fields which are peace and security, international criminal justice, economics and trade and COVID-19. Malte Brosig is Associate Professor in International Relations at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.

This handbook constitutes a single collection of well researched articles and essays on African politics, governance and development from the pre-colonial through colonial to the post-colonial eras. Over the course of these interconnected periods, African politics have evolved with varied experiences across different parts of the continent. As politics is embedded both in the economy and the society, Africa has witnessed some changes in politics, economics, demography and its relations with the world in ways that requires in-depth analysis. This work provides an opportunity for old and new scholars to engage in the universe of the debate around African politics, governance and development and will serve as a ready reference material for students, researchers, policy makers and investors that are concerned with these issues.

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 wide-ranging volume presents the most complete appraisal of modern African history to date. It assembles dozens of new and established scholars to tackle the questions and subjects that define the field, ranging from the economy, the two world wars, nationalism, decolonization, and postcolonial politics to religion, development, sexuality, and the African youth experience. Contributors are drawn from numerous fields in African studies, including art, music, literature, education, and anthropology. The themes they cover illustrate the depth of modern African history and the diversity and originality of lenses available for examining it. Older themes in the field have been treated to an engaging re-assessment, while new and emerging themes are situated as the book’s core strength. The result is a comprehensive, vital picture of where the field of modern African history stands today.