In November 2017, Emmerson Mnangagwa was sworn in as the new and second Zimbabwean executive president. Mnangagwa came into power after a military coup hence he sought to win the acceptance of both Zimbabweans and the international community. He, therefore, announced a new dispensation which would institute a new foreign policy that would keep old friends and mend relations with old foes. This paper attempts to analyse the new foreign policy in its infancy and its implication for changes to the old ZANU-PF foreign policymaking principles. The paper argues that while the policy is still young, it shows no signs of changes from the Zimbabwean foreign policy under Robert Mugabe, which was based on the politics of the party (ZANU-PF) survival and its hegemony in Zimbabwean politics. The paper concludes that Mnangagwa’s moves are just more of the same and the world should wait to see if after frustrations, Mnangagwa will not fall back to Mugabe’s politics of emotions.

The end of the cold war in the 1990s raised questions about the reality of colonial-inspired international regimes. This was concretised through globalisation of a different nature. The kernel of this paper is to look into The Gambia’s withdrawal from the Commonwealth of Nations (CoN) in 2013, before re-joining on 8 February 2018. Can one say that it is a foreign policy in the right direction or an attempt to cover the government’s negative human rights records as documented by various human rights organisations? This paper adopts content analysis of secondary sources of data. The conclusion of this paper is that the CoN, spearheaded by the United Kingdom (UK), should embark more on cultural diplomacy to make the international regime an appealing institution to its members with special focus on economic development in developing states.

Does the foreign policy of the Nigerian state reveal a hegemonic interest? To answer this question, this paper turns to the philosophical foundations and domestic determinants of Nigeria’s foreign policy over five decades. The author examines how ideological currents and domestic contexts shape the design and execution of Nigeria’s foreign policy. By focusing on the impact of internal conditions on foreign policy making and implementation in Nigeria, the analysis demonstrates how the interaction of these factors reinforces the country’s national role conception particularly in terms of its perceived leadership status in Africa. The paper therefore highlights the critical role that domestic factors play in conditioning Nigeria’s foreign policy outlook as a putative regional hegemon. It concluded that the conduct of Abuja’s foreign policy priorities is guided by a variety of themes that collectively give form, focus and finesse to its external relations while at the same time impinging on the achievement of a muted hegemonic interest in Africa.

This study explores the role and effectiveness of the civil society and the media in calling those holding public office to account in the Republic of Zimbabwe. It also assesses the regulatory framework for civil society and media operations. The study was conducted against a backdrop of long standing allegations of failure by the governing authorities to open the democratic space for civic society and media operations in the Republic of Zimbabwe. A total of 126 respondents from selected institutions of police accountability were invited to participate through stratified random sampling technique, purposive sampling technique, and snowball sampling technique, with questionnaires and in-depth interview as the key research instruments. Quantitative data was fed into SPSS software for analysis, whilst qualitative responses were analysed through content analysis. Giving legal advice to victims of police abuse of power and advocacy role were considered to be the major roles played by non- governmental organisations in holding the police to account, though NGOs were viewed not to be very effective. The media, as the Fourth Estate, has also taken a leading role in exposing incidents of police abuse and is viewed as effective in that role. The regulatory environment was viewed to be the major impediment to the smooth operation of NGOs and the media in the Republic of Zimbabwe.

This article examines the role of politics and law in the debacle that arose from the controversial visit, in 2015, of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to South Africa, a state party to the Rome Statutes of the International Criminal Court. The failure of the executive to act in line with its obligations under the instrument set it up for a clash of position with ICC. With particular reference to the theoretical context of realism, this article argues that, notwithstanding the obligations under international law, a state’s political interests can trump legal considerations in the implementation of international obligations to prosecute international crimes.

African unity and development have, for a very long time, been paramount to African leaders, both living and dead. As a result of this, the necessity for Africa to unite has been expressed on several occasions by Africa’s political leadership and intellectuals. The past few years in particular have witnessed many efforts to address Africa’s vast developmental, socioeconomic, peace and security, and governance challenges. However, there is no unanimity amongst Africa’s political leadership and policy intellectuals on the pathway to be followed for the realisation of this political and economic agenda. Whereas some countries have dissipated a lot of energy and resources towards this continental project, Nigeria’s effort is yet to be forthcoming. While some countries like Nigeria favour incremental regional integration, others believe in a revolutionary approach. In the case of Nigeria, the argument is that the critical challenges facing the implementation of pan-Africanism and the United States of Africa (USAf) as development agenda are numerous. In explaining this, the point of departure is an historical/conceptual analysis of pan-Africanism and Nigeria’s challenges in actualising this.

Many scholars have argued about the elusiveness of the concept of Africanity; denoting that there is no single view comprehensive enough to explain the complex web of philosophical, ideological and/or political interpretations associated with it. In the midst of these multiple and convoluted interpretations, the foundational definition of Africanity that links it to historical antecedence remains critical in the current discourses that address the question of identity and belonging. Africanity, like its sister concepts of Africanism and Afrocentricity, was borne out of the need to seek common grounds to resist colonial domination and re-define African identity in ways that make Africans comfortable. With the end of colonial rule, and the advent of globalization, political identities have transcended the historical trajectory to include current policies and institutional practices through which these identities are defined. In the current study, the authors attempt to interrogate the concept of Africanity and citizenry as it is understood, vis-à-vis the lives and experiences of African migrants within the South African context. Using the concepts of globalization and cosmopolitanism, the authors argue that the politics of ‘othering’ in democratic South Africa has occluded universal notions that define individual identities. Such occlusion has been accentuated by xenophobic or afrophobic tendencies that have made it difficult for the government to meaningfully integrate African foreign nationals within the fraternity of South African citizenry. The article attempts to interrogate the different shades of Africanity drawing from the experiences of the different categories of African migrants residing in the country. The authors conclude that, being African in contemporary South Africa cannot be taken for granted, as African migrants continue to struggle for belonging.

Since the pre-colonial era of African history, the nations that made up the independent states of Africa never existed in isolation. They extended one form of relations or another to other nations in distant geo-political environments. This study, which centers on the theory of historical materialism, adopts historical method of inquiry to investigate into the dynamics of Nigeria-Cameroon relations. It used non-purposive sampling to collect date from respondents in Calabar and Bamenda. The data collected were interpreted qualitatively. The researchers found that realism, which dominated the political relations of both states have negatively affected their economic diplomacy. The study recommends reactive peace building and dialogue in the domestic geo-political zones over-run by crisis in both state as well as on the border politics between the two countries.

This paper explores the need to make use of a smarter policing model such as intelligence-led policing in combating technology-based crimes in South Africa. Intelligence-led policing concentrates on prolific and persistent offenders. This stems from the realization that a relatively small percentage of the population is responsible for the crime. Intelligence-led policing targets these groups to deter them from further criminality. The data for this qualitative research was collected in two South African metropolitan provinces of Gauteng and Western Cape. The result indicates gross manifestations of technology-based crimes in South Africa. Part of the recommendations from this paper include, but not limited to, the combination of intelligence-led policing strategies and techniques as useful tools in combating technology-based crime. A holistic suggestion to improve human capacity and capability building of the criminal justice and intelligence officials on the implementation of Intelligence-led policing in South Africa is made.

The world is more fragile than it used to be as recently as three decades ago. With many countries developing sophisticated weaponry to counter possible external threats, states’ capacity to match each other’s military strength has been greatly enhanced with some going so far as to undermine the code of conduct in international peace politics. However, the descent of the multipolar world order has raised the credibility of soft power as a preferred alternative to hard power politics. This entails the use of economic diplomacy, negotiations, dialogue and persuasions instead of military capabilities. This study raises the need to revert from the traditional hard power display in global politics to a soft power approach. Nigeria in the West African sub-region is a major player in Africa and to a lesser extent in the world. It possesses a range of soft power potential and competences to negotiate with any player in Africa and globally through the plank of soft diplomacy. This study examines the articulation of Nigeria’s soft power in the arena of economic diplomacy and probes how the state marshals its economic engagement (especially in Africa) in the present multi-polar order. The authors further consider the extent to which economic diplomacy satisfies the foreign policy objectives of Nigeria and meets the demands of the Nigerian populace. Using descriptive analysis, the methodology utilizes data from Afrobarometer time series (2002-2014) on how satisfied Nigerians are in the handling of its economy. The realist theoretical framework is utilized to buttress power interplay in international politics and the imperative for soft power utilization by Nigeria and for the success of peaceful politics among nations of the world.

Africa has faced irreversible losses and damages associated with global climate change in areas including health, food and water security. Addressing this challenge is a pertinent feature of international negotiations and the eventual incorporation of Article 8 of the Paris Agreement which deals with loss and damage associated with climate change. However, a lack of clarity regarding how this provision can translate to interventions at the national level is problematic. In the absence of clarity on the way forward at the international level, what potentials exist at the regional level in Africa to complement or shape national efforts to address loss and damages relating to climate change? Through an interrogation of existing literature with insights from the theoretical context of new regionalism, this article explores the channels at the African Union (AU) that can influence change in the policy environment on climate change losses and damages at the national level.

The sixth decade of the twentieth century was remarkable for Africans, as it witnessed the attainment of Independence by a host of African states from European imperialists: However, Western influence continues to manifest in decisions and direction of events and policies on the continent till date. The study adopts historical method and depends solely on secondary sources of data which include textbooks, journals, and magazines. The finding is presented qualitatively and analysed using content analysis technique. This paper analyses the continuity and change in the dimension and process of imperialism in contemporary Africa. Grounded in the Hobson-Lenin Theory of imperialism, the study identifies the Bretton-Wood institutions and other neoliberal structures, designed by Western imperialist as veritable instruments for the perpetuation of economic exploitation, politico-military domination, and socio-cultural subjugation. It concluded that in spite of structural changes, the processes and objectives of imperialism remain same as they were in the late nineteen and twentieth century. The study calls on African leaders to hasten the process of integration, and continue to unite against imperialist tendencies like they did with the rejection of gay rights and AFRICOM across the continent, in order to preserve Africans’ identity in a globalized world.