Abstract
In this book, Ian Taylor provides a timely examination of sub-Saharan Africa’s (SSA’s) interactions with five countries and one region, as well as a detailed review of imminent issues facing the continent’s leaders. Much of the book is accordingly constructed around six geographically oriented chapters, tied together with two issue-focused chapters. The volume thus offers a historically relevant contextualisation of the continent’s political, economic and strategic importance in today’s international system.
To new students of African politics, Taylor’s book provides a highly readable rendition of some of the most complex debates, actors and processes surrounding the continent’s affairs. Specifically, the introduction presents a demystified account of long-standing issues in SSA such as neo-patrimonialism, clientelism, quasi-statehood, as well as the politics of aid and development. Furthermore, for both beginners and experts alike, the author illustrates the crucial need to view the continent’s politics as stemming from a dialectic between SSA and the international system. Finally, a discussion of sites of informal authority such as sport, music and diasporas provides valuable insights into the international politics of Africa. Chapters on the foreign policy of the United States (US), the United Kingdom (UK), France and the European Union (EU), contrast the historical yet changing ties of the aforementioned powers with less traditional actors such as China and India, who have significantly increased their presence on the continent. The country-based chapters along with the issue-focused chapters – on the significance of International Financial Institutions (IFIs) and the impact of oil in SSA – offer a useful overview of changes and continuities that have cadenced the continent’s interactions with key external state and non-state actors since independence.
However, while the publication should be given credit for its spectacular coverage of the whats and hows in SSA politics, one is left with a sense of incompleteness when it comes to the in-depth analysis of the whys involved in what Taylor calls the international relations of SSA. For instance, the author’s recognition of the role of informal sites of authority other than the state (sport, music, diasporas) does not translate in most of his country case studies. To be sure, in addition to state policies, expected discussions of the impact of multi-national corporations are evoked throughout all the country case studies, but the link to non-institutionalised non-state sites of authority remains absent. Furthermore, while the bilateral analyses that link SSA with key external actors highlight useful information, more insights may have been garnered from illustrating the dynamics between the selected external actors and how such dynamics illustrate their policy towards Africa. The chapters on China and India show the author’s ability to successfully address that concern, by showing that the growing Sino-African relations and Indian–African relations can only be understood when placed within the wider global political economy. Had this approach been replicated in the other country case studies, the reader may have benefited from a more comprehensive and more dynamic understanding of the international relations of SSA.
One may argue that the author assumes an existing understanding of how the global political economy has affected the foreign policy towards Africa of traditional powers such as the US, the UK, France and the EU. However, with the largely descriptive tone of the book, one may equally expect the author’s principal target to be new students of African politics; in which case, the more that is spelled out the better. Finally, this review cannot be concluded without a brief glance at the elephant in the room, namely the use of the term (‘SSA’). At a time when some scholars increasingly campaign against the use of the term ‘SSA’, Taylor’s failure to acknowledge the growing problematisation of the term is somewhat counterproductive. Given the central claim of his book that SSA cannot and should not be marginalised from International Relations, and given the claim made by ‘anti-SSA’ activists that the use of the term ‘SSA’ contributes to marginalising the continent within the international system, an explicitly expressed position vis-à-vis the use of the term ‘SSA’ – whether to deny or confirm its relevance – would not have been a redundant exercise.
Despite such shortcomings, this book remains a pertinent empirical introduction to the study of African politics within an international context. Ian Taylor can be commended for covering a lot of ground within little space, and for rendering his book highly accessible to all levels of scholarship.