Africa's Contemporary International Relations
Scott Straus, Professor
Political Science
Closed. This professor is continuing with Fall 2025 apprentices on this project; no new apprentices needed for Spring 2026.
How should scholars conceptualize contemporary African International Relations? In today’s increasingly multipolar world, many African states are dialing back relations with traditional partners—such as France—and engaging with a broader suite of states outside the region. While China has been increasingly active on the continent since the 1990s, several others—such as Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the UAE—have dramatically escalated their ties to Africa in the past five years. This project has two main objectives. First, the project seeks to document the changed international landscape since 2000 in whatever ways possible. The paper will seek to measure foreign direct investment, trade, multilateral and bilateral loans, diplomatic visits, foreign summits, military assistance, budgetary assistance, embassy presence, international passenger travel to and from Africa, diplomatic leader travel, global summits that are Africa focused, and African study abroad programs, among other indicators of a changed African International Relations landscape. Second, the paper reviews and assesses different models of African International Relations, with a focus on African state agency. The plethora of new state actors active in the region creates new margins for maneuver. Can existing models of African IR capture the existing landscape or are new ones needed? The paper will examine influential frames, such as extraversion and neocolonialism, while reviewing recent scholarship on China-in-Africa.
Role: Tasks: research and document indicators of changing international engagement with Africa (e.g. foreign direct investment, trade, international passenger travel, diplomatic visits, embassies, etc)
Learning outcomes: 1) learn about the academic research process; 2) learn how to operationalize research questions; 3) learn about contemporary Africa; 4) learn about changing global dynamics.
Qualifications: Required: Political Science Major
Desirable: coursework in International Relations and/or Africa studies
Desirable: familiarity with Excel spreadsheets
Day-to-day supervisor for this project: Dinah Lawan and Andrew Wojtanik, Ph.D. candidate
Hours: 3-5 hrs
Related website: https://korbel.du.edu/pardee/diplometrics/
Related website: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator?tab=all