Africa has suffered at the mercy of natural catastrophes, bloody wars, political instability and communal violence amongst others. David Francis focuses on the debate on uniting the continent in terms of co-operative peace, security and development, examining whether a series of emerging regional peace and security systems could feasibly be institutionalized and extended.
Plagued by bloody wars and armed conflicts, political instability, communal violence and displaced persons, and at the mercy of natural catastrophes such as drought and famine, it is not surprising that the Western press has long dismissed Africa as the 'hopeless continent'. In the face of these challenges, Africa today is faced with a stark choice: either unite or perish. The debate on why and how the continent should unite in terms of co-operative peace, security and development is more urgent than at any other time in Africa's post-colonial history. Moving forward from the failure of the earlier, typically idealistic Africa unity project, David Francis demonstrates how peace and security challenges have created the imperative for change. He argues that a series of regional peace and security systems are emerging, and that states that have participated in practical experiments in regional peacekeeping, peace support operations, conflict stabilization/management and preventive diplomacy are building de facto systems of peace and security that could be institutionalized and extended.
A comprehensive history of the relationship between Africa and the United States Toyin Falola and Raphael Njoku reexamine the history of the relationship between Africa and the United States from the dawn of the trans-Atlantic slave trade to the present. Their broad, interdisciplinary book follows the relationship's evolution, tracking African American emancipation, the rise of African diasporas in the Americas, the Back-to-Africa movement, the founding of Sierra Leone and Liberia, the presence of American missionaries in Africa, the development of blues and jazz music, the presidency of Barack Obama, and more.
This book concerns the United Nations’ peacemaking, peacekeeping, peace-building, and post-conflict reconstruction efforts in Africa from 1960 to 2021. Succinctly discussed are historic and contemporary peace, security, and economic engagements within 18 countries spanning eight African regions: the Great Lakes; the Economic Community of Central African States; East Africa; the Horn of Africa; North Africa; the Sahel Region; West Africa; and Southern Africa. The book develops a neo-realist and imperialist critique that discusses how resource-rich, conflict-ridden states have become easy targets for capitalists, terrorists, and transnational crime, aligned to geostrategic parochial interests. Critically argued is that endogenous economic growth factors, if applied effectively, can achieve both peace and security, and meet the Global Sustainable Development Goals. Such efforts require constructive engagement with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council: China, France, Russia, the UK, and the US. However, the book contends that the cornerstone of multilateral engagement involves Africa’s 55 states and the African Union’s three major pillars: the Peace and Security Council, the African Governance Architecture, and the Post-Conflict Reconstruction Development Centre, which have the ability to move resource-rich, conflict-ridden states out of transnational crime and poverty. This book offers wide-ranging analyses of contemporary African diplomacy and a compelling critique of UN peacekeeping efforts in Africa, which resonates to scholars of international relations, peace and conflict studies, and African politics.
"Relations between the United States and South Africa - or the parts of the world these nations now occupy - go nearly as far back as the very beginning of their inception as permanent European colonial intrusions. This book is a critical overview of these relations from the late seventeenth century to the present. Unprecedented in its scope - and supported by substantive and detailed notes, together with an extensive bibliography, chronology, glossary, and appendices - the book distinguishes itself from extant works in a number of other ways. Set against the backdrop of a wider interdisciplinary exploration of both ideational and structural issues of historical context, it not only gives attention to the importance of contributions from nonofficial actors in shaping official relations, but also considers the impact of the geo-political location of South Africa within southern Africa, where the presence of other nations - particularly Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, and Zimbabwe - looms large. Methodologically written from the perspectives of both traditional narrative history and Khaldunian interpretive historical analysis, the book consequently sits at the interdisciplinary interstice of political economy and sociology, where the aim is to advance our understanding of the Braudelian interconnectedness of world history as an important diachronic determinant of the diplomacy of foreign relations. Written for both scholars and policy analysts, this book's examination of the agency of the marginalized should also be of interest to activists and the reading public."--BOOK JACKET.
Over the last several decades, historians have conducted extensive research into contact between the United States and West Africa during the era of the transatlantic trade. Yet we still understand relatively little about more recent relations between the two areas. This multidisciplinary volume presents the most comprehensive analysis of the U.S.-West African relationship to date, filling a significant gap in the literature by examining the social, cultural, political, and economic bonds that have, in recent years, drawn these two world regions into increasingly closer contact. Beginning with examinations of factors that linked the nations during European colonial rule of Africa, and spanning to discussions of U.S. foreign policy with regard to West Africa from the Cold War through the end of the twentieth century and beyond, these essays constitute the first volume devoted to interrogating the complex relationship -- both historic and contemporary -- between the United States and West Africa. Contributors: Abdul Karim Bangura, Karen B. Bell, Peter A. Dumbuya, Kwame Essien, Andrew I. E. Ewoh, Toyin Falola, Osman Gbla, John Wess Grant, Stephen A. Harmon, Harold R. Harris, Olawale Ismail, Alusine Jalloh, Fred L. Johnson III, Stephen Kandeh, Ibrahim Kargbo, Bayo Lawal, Ayodeji Olukoju, Adebayo Oyebade, Christopher Ruane, Anita Spring, Ibrahim Sundiata, Hakeem Ibikunle Tijani, Ken Vincent, and Amanda Warnock. Alusine Jalloh is Associate Professor of History and founding director of The Africa Program at the University of Texas at Arlington. Toyin Falola is the Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities and University Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Texas at Austin.
Since the dawn of the 21st century, transnational terrorism has compelled increased American strategic engagement with Africa. Further, with the 2008 election of President Barack Obama, America's first black president and one with an African heritage, there was greater African expectation that a drastic new course in the United States' African policy would emerge. Washington was now expected to engage Africa in a more robust manner than in the past. In nine well-researched essays authored by contributors from a range of disciplines, this book articulates some of the dynamic forces driving contemporary relationships between the United States and Africa. The volume offers a fresh perspective to salient issues defining US-African relations in the twenty-first century such as health, trade, sustainable development, counter-terrorism, military and strategic partnership, conflict resolution, and democratization and good governance. Scholars, foreign policy analysts and policymakers, students, and the general reader interested in diplomatic history and international relations would find this work indispensable. This book is part of the African World Series, edited by Toyin Falola, Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities, University of Texas at Austin. "The question of what Africa should mean to the United States and vice-versa has again come to the fore of critical discussion, especially since President Barack Obama became the President of the United States. Often at the centre of the debate is what should be the extent (or intent) of the relationship. The chapters in this book take a bold attempt at addressing some of these issues and provide a compelling study for which we should be grateful." -- Abiodun Alao, King's College London "A particular strength of the work is its multi-disciplinary approach...[the book] is a useful addition to an understanding of the many opportunities and challenges vis-à-vis the United States and Africa. Students, scholars, and general readers alike should benefit from its detailed exploration of the relationship between US foreign policy in Africa and the contributors' cogent suggestions for improving upon that important relationship in the future." -- William A. Taylor, Angelo State University
Africa United is the story of modern day Africa told through its soccer. Travelling across thirteen countries, from Cairo to the Cape, Steve Bloomfield, the former Africa Correspondent for The Independent, meets players and fans, politicians and rebel leaders, discovering the role that soccer has played in shaping the continent. This wide-ranging and incisive book investigates Africa’s love of soccer, its increasing global influence, the build-up to the 2010 World Cup itself and the social and political backdrop to the greatest show on earth.
In this book Peter Schraeder offers the first comprehensive theoretical analysis of US foreign policy toward Africa in the postwar era. He argues that though we often assume that US policymakers 'speak with one voice', Washington's foreign policy is, however, derived from numerous centres of power which each have the ability to pull policy in different directions. The book describes the evolution of policy at three levels: Presidents and their close advisors; the bureaucracies of the executive branch; and Congress and African affairs interest groups. Most importantly, the evidence presented demonstrates that the nature of events in Africa has itself affected the operation of the US policymaking process, and the substance of US policy. Drawing on over 100 interviews, and detailed case studies in Zaire, Ethiopia-Somalia and South Africa, this book provides a unique analysis of the historical evolution of US foreign policy towards Africa from the 1940s to the 1990s.
