Oluwaseun Tella - Böcker

This book investigates the ways in which soft power is used by African countries to help drive global influence. Selecting four of the countries most associated with soft power across the continent, this book delves into the currencies of soft power across the region: from South Africa’s progressive constitution and expanding multinational corporations, to Nigeria’s Nollywood film industry and Technical Aid Corps (TAC) scheme, Kenya’s sport diplomacy, fashion and tourism industries, and finally Egypt’s Pan-Arabism and its reputation as the cradle of civilisation. The book asks how soft power is wielded by these countries and what constraints and contradictions they encounter. Understandings of soft power have typically been driven by Western scholars, but throughout this book, Oluwaseun Tella aims to Africanise our understanding of soft power, drawing on prominent African philosophies, including Nigeria’s Omolúwàbí, South Africa’s Ubuntu, Kenya’s Harambee, and Egypt’s Pharaonism. This book will be of interest to researchers from across political science, international relations, cultural studies, foreign policy and African Studies.The Open Access version of this book, available athttp://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/ 9781003176022, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license

This book investigates the ways in which soft power is used by African countries to help drive global influence. Selecting four of the countries most associated with soft power across the continent, this book delves into the currencies of soft power across the region: from South Africa’s progressive constitution and expanding multinational corporations, to Nigeria’s Nollywood film industry and Technical Aid Corps (TAC) scheme, Kenya’s sport diplomacy, fashion and tourism industries, and finally Egypt’s Pan-Arabism and its reputation as the cradle of civilisation. The book asks how soft power is wielded by these countries and what constraints and contradictions they encounter. Understandings of soft power have typically been driven by Western scholars, but throughout this book, Oluwaseun Tella aims to Africanise our understanding of soft power, drawing on prominent African philosophies, including Nigeria’s Omolúwàbí, South Africa’s Ubuntu, Kenya’s Harambee, and Egypt’s Pharaonism. This book will be of interest to researchers from across political science, international relations, cultural studies, foreign policy and African Studies.The Open Access version of this book, available athttp://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/ 9781003176022, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license

Negative images of Africa, which define the continent as being riven with poverty, crime, or war, are increasingly being challenged. Examples of soft power, such as Nigeria’s Nollywood, athletic successes in Kenya, Rwanda’s commercial diplomacy, and South Africa’s liberal constitution, are all reasserting African agency and shaping more positive understandings of the continent.This book considers the role and impact of soft power in the African context and how it relates to the 21st century scramble for Africa. Bringing together leading scholars in the field, this book delves into various aspects of soft power in Africa, shedding light on how the continent’s attractiveness is shaped by soft power in the continent’s biggest states, the small states, and also the regional organisations, such as the African Union (AU), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Southern African Development Community (SADC), and East African Community (EAC). The book then goes on to assess the ways in which great powers, most notably China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Brazil, and France, are themselves deploying soft power in Africa in order to vie for influence, resources, and strategic advantages.Understanding Soft Power in Africa will be an important read for researchers in political science, international relations, African studies, and cultural studies, as well as for African policymakers.

This book examines the relations between Nigeria and South Africa and their implications for regional influence across the African continent. With the largest and third largest economies in the region and a historical status as the major peacemakers on the continent, it is often argued that Africa’s fate is directly linked to the success or failure of these regional powers. While there is widespread reference to each state’s capabilities and regional influence in the extant literature, little analysis is offered on relations between Nigeria and South Africa and their impact on regional governance and provision of public goods on the continent. This book attempts to fill the gap by engaging issues such as the hegemonic competence of the states, their credentials for a permanent seat at the UNSC, their efforts towards regional integration, and their efforts towards combating the dark side of globalization including climate change, drug trafficking and xenophobia. It also engages a genderperspective to these states’ relations as well as their experiences of transitional justice. Providing an in-depth comparative analysis of the two so called African powerhouses, this volume will be of interest to policy-makers, academics and students interested in Nigeria and South Africa’s foreign policy, regional powerhood, and the African peace, security, and development agenda.

Engaging the full spectrum of the politics of a rising African power, this volume will be of interest to students and researchers of comparative politics, international relations, foreignpolicy, African studies, regional politics, peace, security, conflict, and development studies, as well as African policymakers.

Engaging the full spectrum of the politics of a rising African power, this volume will be of interest to students and researchers of comparative politics, international relations, foreignpolicy, African studies, regional politics, peace, security, conflict, and development studies, as well as African policymakers.

This book focuses on southern Africa by engaging with ‘norms’ from various perspectives and how they have proliferated within a neo-liberalising context since the 1990s. It particularly examines gender norms in relation to agency, influence and their impact. Despite growing transnational activities, regional studies analyses have so far maintained a primarily linear logic not incorporative of the increasing interface between state and non-state regionalism in a transnational context since the advent of liberalisation and democratisation. Increasing non-state activities, and their connection to state processes involved in norm creation, adaptation, diffusion and implementation around broad questions of security (including gender security), amount to regional thickening. The book’s analytical approach is informed by alternatives to mainstream approaches, emphasising processes rather than linearity inherent in regional international relations studies. The research reveals that transnational activities and regionalisation of gender and women-focused civil society actors are critical for advocacy and diverse representation within intergovernmental policymaking structures at the regional scale.

Despite growing transnational activities, regional studies analyses have so far maintained a primarily linear logic not incorporative of the increasing interface between state and non-state regionalism in a transnational context since the advent of liberalisation and democratisation.

This book’s major contribution is deploying the conceptual framework of Afrocentrism, which underscores Nigeria and South Africa’s Afrocentric posture in the pursuit of their foreign policy objectives, both bilaterally and multilaterally. Indeed, Afrocentrism presents an important framework for understanding Nigeria-South Africa relations and the regional powers’ relations with other states in Africa and beyond. The salience of Afrocentrism stems from the fact that both states see Africa as the centre-piece of their foreign policies. Additionally, this book delves into dimensions that surpass previous studies by exploring key aspects such as space diplomacy and diaspora diplomacy, which are critical to the bilateral and multilateral relations of the two states. It further introduces the concept of de-Afrocentrism into international relations discourse.