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Africa in the Global Trading System

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The Palgrave Handbook of African Politics, Governance and Development

Abstract

No state is an island in the complex, interdependent international system. There is a need to relate to other actors, both state and non-state, for any country to successfully navigate the complexity of global international relations. Many theories drive this point home, from the realist/neo-realist and Marxist/neo-Marxist to liberal/neo-liberal schools. Neo-liberalism’s complex, interdependent, international economic system sees a need to promote trading for economic development and political stability. A question worth asking is to what extent one can claim that Africa benefits, to the fullest, from the trading system as crafted by the Euro-American arrangement handed to the rest of the world. A global trading system calls for ultra-laissez-fairism, but the developed North fails to abide by the tenets of neo-liberalism through confusing imposed globalisation, regionalisation, and regionalism capped with unsustainable international trade norms. This chapter contextualises North–South, South–South and regionalism concepts. Critical theory will be the theoretical starting point.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Politics and International Relations, North West University, Mafikeng Campus, South Africa

    Lere Amusan

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  1. Lere Amusan
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute, University of South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba

  2. Department of History, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA

    Toyin Falola

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Amusan, L. (2018). Africa in the Global Trading System. In: Oloruntoba, S., Falola, T. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of African Politics, Governance and Development. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95232-8_42

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