Contemporary Re-examination of African International Relations
This study examines whether a meta-theoretical approach to African International Relations yields more descriptive utility and explanatory capacity to describing the behavior and relations of the African state than traditional general theory approaches based on a single primary determinant. It sugge...
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| Format: | Others |
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DigitalCommons@Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center
2009
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| Online Access: | http://digitalcommons.auctr.edu/dissertations/88 http://digitalcommons.auctr.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1645&context=dissertations |
| Summary: | This study examines whether a meta-theoretical approach to African International Relations yields more descriptive utility and explanatory capacity to describing the behavior and relations of the African state than traditional general theory approaches based on a single primary determinant. It suggests that a multiple theory – multi determinant approach to assessing African state behavior and relations grants greater theoretical and empirical parallels to state and system realities than single theory primary determinant approaches. This study builds a meta-theory of African International Relations by which to collectively utilize the most commonly applied and descriptive conventional and non-conventional theories employed in the topic area. This meta-theory, referred to as Syncarpathic theory, combines a host of theoretical approaches while negating the inter-theory contradictions that would limit the utility of each theory based on their differing assumptions. Syncarpathic theory will provide a model of African International Relations with greater descriptive parallels to system and state realities. The presentation of a meta-theoretical approach will provide an alternative lens by which to view African state behavior and relations addressing the fundamental problem of “description” existing within African political discourse. |
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