POL372 Africa and International Politics

POL372 Africa and International Politics (POL372A - Autumn)

Credits: 15
Semester: 1

Assessment: Item 1: 40% Report (2000 words) Item 2: 60% Examination 

Module Convenor: Dr Peter Brett

Africa has consistently been ignored by many of the major social science disciplines. Many of the major theoretical traditions treat Africa as either irrelevant to great power politics, or as simply an effect of great power or class domination. This module aims to introduce students to Africa's international relations, African-centric perspectives which challenge traditional academic approaches and seeks to locate Africa's fate not merely in processes of imperial domination but also in African social and class configurations themselves. This is a distinct approach which centres the teaching of Africa on the continent itself, rather than exclusively on what external actors are doing to it. This is not to dismiss the influence of external actors and processes, but to reveal the many cases of where this distinction between the external and internal in Africa has limited utility in explaining events and processes on the continent.