The question of African agency in international relations

Abstract

The subject of agency in Africa’s international relations (IR) is often shrouded in generalised accounts of Africa as a supplicant actor. Utilising examples from a variety of African states, this article makes the argument that African actors are able to exert assertive agency in their various encounters with external partners although the level of agency they are able to exert is determined by a variety of factors including; the type of governmental regime in place, possession and control of strategic commodities by the regime in place and the willingness of the governmental regime to work with civil society in its engagements with external partners. In the final analysis, African agency should not be solely seen as emanating from and being exerted by governmental elites, but should also be examined as coming from independent civil society movements as well as exceptional and ordinary African individuals. Thus, African agency is multifaceted and multi-actor in nature.