PPR336: Africa and Global Politics

Tutor: Julie Hearn
Term: Lent

Course Description

African states are among the poorest, most artificial in the world. This means their relations with the global system have a critical impact on African politics from the global to the local level. The course has three main aims.

• To provide an overview of the major issues facing Africa in the global system since independence, such as the debt crisis, poverty reduction strategies and aid relations.
• To introduce and assess alternative approaches to the study of the subject, through the analysis of particular issues facing African states, such as the nature of civil society, democratization both from above and below and the role of NGOs.
• To contribute one perspective to an overall understanding of the new structure of the global system in the twenty-first century.

This course provides a historical and thematic introduction to the issues facing Africa in the international system today. The course is divided into four sections. The first section focuses on the impact of colonialism on shaping the economy, the state and perceptions of race. The second section examines the first four decades of independence. The third and fourth sections look at key contemporary issues such as HIV/AIDS and actors such as China and South Africa.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module students will be able to:

• Demonstrate knowledge of key contemporary themes in African politics such as the impact of Chinese investment and trade.
• Place these developments within the continent's history including the Atlantic Slave Trade and European colonialism and its outsider representations of African reality.
• Outline and analyze different theoretical and empirical perspectives to understand the role of NGOs, the state and citizens in poverty alleviation, for example.

Assessment

40% coursework and 60% exam.
Coursework: 1 essay of 3000 words. Exam: 2 hours.

Teaching Method

Lecture (1.5 hours) and workshop (1 hour) weekly.

Introductory Reading

Fanon F The Wretched of the Earth

Freund B The Making of Contemporary Africa (2nd edition)

Harrison G Issues in the Contemporary Politics of Sub- Saharan Africa

Rodney W How Europe Underdeveloped Africa

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