Africa: History, Institutions and Global Challenges

The course aims to provide students with the interpretative tools necessary to understand issues relating to colonial state formation, the decolonisation process, constituent elements of independent statehood in Africa and the regional economic communities formed to address internal issues and tackle global challenges. The study's focus on southern Africa aims to analyse the range of action and legacies of the liberation movements which later transformed into political parties as part of the process of national and regional institution building.

Upon completing the course, students will understand the various dynamics of the passage from peripheral functional institutions of colonial "motherlands" to independent statehood in Africa. Students will also be able to differentiate between distinct European colonial patterns. Students will be able to identify the adaptative and conflictive responses of African leaders to the economic exploitation of the continent's rich resources and the role played by international relations. They will also be able to identify reactive grassroots mobilisation mechanisms and the exit option offered by migration, first within Africa and then outside the continent.
Accordingly, students will acquire the conceptual instruments necessary to understand and critically evaluate the dynamics of contemporary Africa and place them within the wider contexts learned during the previous three years of their degree in terms of global historical, political, international law and social narratives.
Students will also have learned to think critically and independently in how they approach sources in this complex subject.