Africa in The Global Power Play: Debates, Challenges and Potential Reforms is a compilation of insightful and analytical articles that were published in different issues of the journal, African Renaissance, between 2004 and 2006. Most of the articles are from established academics, development practitioners, policymakers and policy-moulders as well as stakeholders in Africa. Though the perspectives are as varied as the contributions, the underlining theme is the ‘timely’ concern about Africa and its various dimensions of development trajectories visa-vi that of other regions of the world. The contributors also analyse the continuous interactions and inevitable contradictory tensions that exist between the continent and the rest of the World.

 

The various contributions seek answers to a number of fundamental questions about Africa’s position in the global political economy, focusing on such areas as international economic relations, political and economic reforms, HIV/ AIDS, democratic transition and consolidation, Afrocentricity and human rights. Though the contributions show that Africa faces enormous challenges in the global political economy, they also point out that the current renewed dynamism and optimism in many parts of the continent is a source of hope.

 

 

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Bhekinkosi Moyo is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Governance in Africa at the Institute for Democracy in South Africa. His research interests include Africa’s political economy, international political economy, global governance, social movements and democratization in Africa. His recent publications include China in Africa: Threat or an Asset (2006), The Zimbabwean Community in South Africa (2006) and Africa and the World: 2004-2005 (2006).