1st Edition

Canadian Foreign Policy in Africa Regional Approaches to Peace, Security, and Development

By Edward Ansah Akuffo Copyright 2012
    272 Pages
    by Routledge

    272 Pages
    by Routledge

    After over fifty-years of Canadian engagement with Africa, no comprehensive literature exists on Canada's security policy in Africa and relations towards Africa's regional organizations. The literature on Canada's foreign policy in Africa to date has largely focused on development assistance. For the first time, Edward Akuffo combines historical and contemporary material on Canada's development and security policy while analyzing the linkage between these sets of foreign policy practices on the African continent. The book makes an important contribution to the debate on Canada's foreign policy generally, and on Africa's approach to peace, security and development, while shedding light on a new theoretical lens - non-imperial internationalism - to understand Canada's foreign policy. The author captures an emerging trend of cooperation on peace, security, and development between the Canadian government and African regional organizations in the twenty-first century. The resulting book is a valuable addition to the literature on African politics, new regionalisms, foreign policy, global governance, and international development studies.

    Preface; Acknowledgments; List of Abbreviations and Acronyms; Introduction; Chapter 1 Human Security: The Canadian and African Conceptualisations; Chapter 2 Sources of Canadian Foreign Policy in Africa; Chapter 3 Canada and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD); Chapter 4 Canada and the African Union Peace and Security Architecture; Chapter 5 Canada and Human Security in West Africa; Chapter 6 Theorising Canadian Policy towards the AU and ECOWAS; Chapter 7 Toward a Canada Africa Policy?;

    Biography

    Edward Ansah Akuffo is at the Department of Political Science, University of the Fraser Valley, Canada

    'Dr Edward Akuffo's original monograph presents a novel approach to the analysis and advancement of Canadian foreign policy towards African regional development agencies "non-imperial internationalism". Situated within a "constructivist" framework, this informed insight advocates human security in response to issues such as conflict diamonds. Given Canada's long-standing transnational relations with the continent - from missionaries and miners to now well-established diasporas - this contemporary inquiry suggests that Africa still has policy options other than the EU and the BRICS. A significant contribution not only to African IR but also to foreign policy, security and development studies.' Timothy M. Shaw, The University of the West Indies, Trinidad & Tobago 'Drawing on impressive original research, Akuffo's study provides a sensitive interpretation of Canadian and African perceptions of each other, and the way Africa has constituted Canada's "moral identity". Akuffo's "non-imperial internationalist" framework will stimulate debate and comparison. His call for a coherent Canadian Africa policy will be welcomed by knowledgeable observers of the relationship.' David Black, Dalhousie University, Canada