Contemporary Re-examination of African International Relations

• Main Author: Wheatley, Ricardo
• Format: Others
• Published: DigitalCommons@Robert W. Woodruff Library, Atlanta University Center 2009
• Subjects: International Relations; Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Online Access: http://digitalcommons.auctr.edu/dissertations/88; http://digitalcommons.auctr.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1645&context=dissertations

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.