Critical Perspectives on African Politics ─ Liberal Interventions, State-Building and Civil Society

This book bring together research on state-formation and civil society in a post-development context to interrogate international practices of state-building and civil society support in Africa from a critical perspective.

Drawing on critical, postcolonial and governmentality insights, the book problematises the assumptions made by Liberal internationalist scholars about the autonomy, efficacy and legitimacy of post-Cold War formalised civil society actors in Africa. The book addresses:

• What kind of civil society is being constructed by international and multilateral donors in African states, and why?
• What forms and groups of civil society are excluded from these processes, and what are the ramifications of this for citizenship in African states?
• How do African states mediate between local, national, transnational and global civil society groups?
• How does African politics extend and challenge our understanding and usage of the concept of civil society?
• Does civil society remains a meaningful term in attempting to understand social, political and economic practices in these societies?

Providing a range of empirical cases and theoretical approaches, the chaptersd are united by their critical treatment of contemporary processes of state-building and civil society support in Africa. It will be of interest to students and scholars of African politics, development studies, International Relations; IPE and peacekeeping/making.

Clive Gabay is Lecturer in International Politics at the School of Politics and International Relations, Queen Mary University of London, UK.

Carl Death is a Lecturer in International Politics at Aberystwyth University, UK