Africa and the International System: The Politics of State Survival

by Christopher Clapham

African independence launched into international politics a group of the world's poorest, weakest and most artificial states. How have such states managed to survive? To what extent is their survival now threatened? Christopher Clapham shows how an initially supportive international environment has become increasingly threatening to African rulers and the states over which they preside. The author reveals how international conventions designed to uphold state sovereignty have often been appropriated and subverted by rulers to enhance their domestic control, and how African states have been undermined by guerrilla insurgencies and the use of international relations to serve essentially private ends.

Genres: Africa, Politics, History, Nonfiction

356 pages, Hardcover

First published September 12, 1996

Reviews

[Motaz Larnaouti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clapham’s book taken my mind in another African scholar thinking for Africa, fascinating its publication talk about international politics and relations between Africa states and how should work as African continent, it is focused on External and internal politics. The sovereignty of states one of the mine point in this book as he mentions on page 9, and the Sovereignty of lands, which is directly concerning their legitimacy, and refreshing with lots of absorbing topics as (Quasi-statehood, Shadow state, etc.) About Quasi-statehood when he mentions it on page 15 also the negative sovereignty, Clapham was analyzing Africa history and states and the Politics of African under the view of international relationship, he was talking about the Global power scenarios and the existence of states and how it connected by the international relations the national borders one of the important points, in the end, I don’t want to forget to motions about something I think it’s so impotent it’s the Shadow Power.
In the book, there’s tree parts 1st part is about Global Politics talking about African states between non-African states, 2nd part is about relation between states in Africa and how it’s important the 3rd part and last part of the book talking about the problems in internal problems in the states with their reflection on the international community.
Africa as a content and African countries paramount for the international relation even if we look back to the conflict history for the independent we can see that the consolation countries were not easy for them to leave Africa, and it is still today a central subject in the world even international organoiron they focus on Africa. The mainstream way to study international politics and the international relationships has been identified by a “top-down” access dominated by the European developed countries and occidental scholars’ attitudes. There's big rule from the countries in international community they had and still have their effect on African nations sovereignty.
Now am concluding with (shadow state) in Africa as the scholars give it the definition: ‘’Shadow government may refer to A government run by an unelected bureaucracy, or a state within a state. Known as the deep state in Turkey.’’
So from here we are aware the shadow state is everywhere in whole the world but it Africa it is stronger than others because of corruption.
For me this Book it is fascinating not that book talk about black and white or Western and African It is another way of thinking from Rodney, 1972 Book, and Fanon, 1961 it is clear there are more than 35 years between those Books, but it is another point of View from African aspect.

[Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author does an admirable job of extending the analysis to as many countries and regions as possible, which can be difficult for these types of overviews that generally will fall back on the handful of states with which the author is most familiar. I didn’t think the overall thesis, as I understood it, was well integrated or presented in a cogent manner to inform the rest of the book or offer anything new to our understanding of IR in Africa (I’ll caveat that it is a bit dated at this point, so there’s that; maybe this was groundbreaking at the time, but I doubt it). Highlights for me we’re some of the different discussions on state and non state French involvement in Francophone regions post independence.