Africa in World Politics

Africa in World Politics addresses the effects of major currents in Africa and global politics upon each other and the ramifications of these interrelationships for contemporary theories of international and comparative politics. This third edition focuses on the changing state system in sub-Saharan Africa. The nation-state as we know it is a legacy of European rule in Africa, and the primacy of the nation-state remains a bedrock of most contemporary theories of international relations. Yet in the fourth decade of Africa’s independence, this colonial inheritance is being challenged as never before with potentially far-reaching implications for Africa, and for world politics as a whole. The authors examine a variety of changing state systems on the continent, ranging from the rapidly failing Western-style states (Rwanda, the Sudan, and others), to new states emerging from old ones (Eritrea from Ethiopia), to states becoming radically decentralized (Ethiopia, Uganda).