Intervention and Transnationalism in Africa
Global-Local Networks of Power

A contributory volume considering how global forces establish networks of power across Africa, first published in 2001.

Thomas Callaghy (Edited by), Ronald Kassimir (Edited by), Robert Latham (Edited by)

9780521001410, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 20 December 2001

338 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 2.6 cm, 0.53 kg

'This is an excellent collection … a fascinating examination … this book attempts something different … this provides a core reading for all scholars interested in Africa and the global system.' Modern African Studies

As the idea of globalization emerges as a key concept in social sciences in the twenty-first century, understanding how external forces and phenomena shape the politics of nation-states and communities is imperative. This 2001 volume calls attention to 'transboundary formations' - intersections of cross-border, national and local forces that produce, destroy or transform local order and political authority, significantly impacting on ordinary people's lives. It analyzes the intervention of external forces in political life, both deepening and broadening the concept of international 'intervention' and the complex contexts within which it unfolds. While transboundary formations can emerge anywhere, they have a particular salience in sub-Saharan Africa where the limits to state power make them especially pervasive and consequential. Including conceptual contributions and theoretically-informed case studies, the volume considers global-local connections, taking a fresh perspective on contemporary Africa's political constraints and possibilities, with important implications for other parts of the world.

1. Introduction Robert Latham, Ronald Kassimir and Thomas Callaghy
Part I. Historical Dimensions and Conceptual Frameworks: 2. Networks, moral discourse and history Frederick Cooper
3. Defining transboundary connections: international arenas, translocal networks and transterritorial deployments Robert Latham
4. Producing local politics: governance, representation and non-state organization in Africa Ronald Kassimir
Part II. Transboundary Networks, States and Civil Societies: 5. Networks and governance in Africa: innovation in debt regime Thomas Callaghy
6. When networks blind: human rights and politics in Kenya Hans Peter Schmitz
7. Global, state and local intersections: a study of power, authority and conflict in the Niger Delta oil communities CyrilI Obi
Part III. Political Economies of Violence and Authority: 8. How sovereignty matters: global markets and political economy of local politics in weak studies William Reno
9. Post-modern warfare in Sierra Leone? Recovering the local and social in global-local constructions of violence Paul Richards and Caspar Fithen
10. New sovereigns? The frontiers of wealth creation and regulatory authority in the Chad Basin Janet Roitman
11. Out of the shadows Carolyn Nordstrom
Part IV. Reflections: 12. Authority and interventions in world politics Michael Barnett
13. Toward a new research agenda Ronald Kassimir and Robert Latham.

Subject Areas: Political economy [KCP], International relations [JPS], Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC], Regional studies [GTB]