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

This book is the first to exclusively consider the foreign policy tendencies of African states in international institutions. As an edited volume offering empirically based perspectives from a variety of scholars, this project disabuses the notion that Africa should be considered a "niche" interest in the field of foreign policy analysis. It asserts that the actions of the continent's states collectively serve as an important heuristic by which to interrogate and understand the foreign policies of other global states, and are not simply "anomalously" extant entities whose actions should be studied only insofar as they deviate from predictions based on the experiences of Western or other non-African states.

This treatment of the relationship between domestic and international politics analyzes efforts by African states to manage their external relations amid shifts in the internal, regional, and global environments. The study traverses the continent, identifying patterns of change, examining constraints, and giving attention to the processes that influence policy outcomes. Contributors include scholars of political science, international relations, African studies, and conflict analysis. c. Book News Inc.

This title was first published in 2001. "Grand aims" refers to the overarching tenets and doctrines that prevailed in US and South African foreign policies towards Africa. This study argues that when modest means were imposed upon American and South African foreign policy-makers, they were often forced to devise new grand aims. Few in-depth resources exist with regard to United States and/or South African foreign policies towards Africa. Those that do are overwhelmingly pre- or early-1990s in focus. This analysis encompasses the years 1990 to mid-1998 and is intended to be relevant to a broad readership, including academics, students, Africanists, historians, political scientists, regional specialists and policy-makers in the public and private sectors on both sides of the Atlantic.

This book explores foreign policy developments in post-colonial Africa. A continental foreign policy is a tenuous proposition, yet new African states emerged out of armed resistance and advocacy from regional allies such as the Bandung Conference and the League of Arab States. Ghana was the first Sub-Saharan African country to gain independence in 1957. Fourteen more countries gained independence in 1960 alone, and by May 1963, when the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) was formed, 30 countries were independent. An early OAU committee was the African Liberation Committee (ALC), tasked to work in the Frontline States (FLS) to support independence in Southern Africa. Pan-Africanists, in alliance with Brazzaville, Casablanca and Monrovia groups, approached continental unity differently, and regionalism continued to be a major feature. Africa’s challenges were often magnified by the capitalist-democratic versus communist-socialist bloc rivalry, but through Africa’s use and leveraging of IGOs – the UN, UNDP, UNECA, GATT, NIEO and others – to advance development, the formation of the African Economic Community, OAU’s evolution into the AU and other alliances belied collective actions, even as Africa implemented decisions that required cooperation: uti possidetis (maintaining colonial borders), containing secession, intra- and inter-state conflicts, rebellions and building RECs and a united Africa as envisioned by Pan Africanists worked better collectively.

This volume of thirteen original essays provides a timely analysis of African foreign policies in a post–Cold War environment where African marginalization from the global economy appears to be increasing. Three thematic essays give an overview of critical changes occurring in African foreign policies, and ten country-by-country case studies provide specific analyses of decisionmaking, intraregional relations, and the struggles over policy with external agencies, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. African Foreign Policies offers explanations for how African states are adapting to the international challenges of the late twentieth century.