SAJIA Volume 31.2 is now available on the Taylor & Francis website. The issue includes articles on various topics, such as African conflict early warning systems, the concept of adaptive alignment in peace processes in Africa, and the prospects and challenges of economic integration among the BRICS nations. Further articles that focus on BRICS states include one focused on India’s engagement with Africa – through which India seeks ‘geopolitical alignment’ from African states in the pursuit of its goals – as well as an article on South Africa’s response to China’s positions at the UN on international human rights, and another on the Russian-Chinese ‘Partnership’ in Africa. The latter article notes the different emphases of these two emerging powers vis-á-vis the continent and how their inherently opposing approaches to engagement with Africa produce an ‘antagonistic dynamic in which the actions of each undermine the goals pursued by the other’; Africa thus highlights the limits of the Sino-Russian partnership as well as the realities of their national priorities.
The issue also includes a review essay, titled ‘Understanding the rise of China through its leaders’ in which Mandira Bagwandeen draws upon two books – Xi Jinping: Political Career, Governance, and Leadership, 1953-2018, by Alfred L Chan, and The Dragon Roars Back: Transformational Leaders and Dynamics of Chinese Foreign Policy, by Suisheng Zhao – to analyse the dynamic leadership behind China’s rise. There, Bagwandeen notes: ‘Through its economic rise, China has reshaped its image from a once poor, starving nation plagued by conflict to an economic powerhouse with far-reaching influence that has fundamentally reshaped the international landscape. After the Chinese Civil War, the country’s leaders strived to build a nation that was a force to be reckoned with; without that dedication, it can be argued, modern China may never have been born. Examining the key role of China’s leaders in shaping the country’s development and foreign policy to navigate domestic and international issues is crucial for deciphering Chinese perspectives and approaches to economic development and global affairs.
Further book reviews consider issues of migration as well as the strategic use of the conservation of nature by various states to further their own ‘settler’ projects.
Research Articles
The limits of the “no limits” Russian-Chinese Partnership: The case of Africa
Benjamin Kurylo
BRICS economic integration: Prospects and challenges
Marida Nach and Ncwadi Ronney
A willing accomplice? South Africa’s response to China’s position on international human rights
Eduard Jordaan
Confronting recurring violence in the DRC and Mali: The concept of adaptive alignment in peace processes
Hind Zaamoun and Houyame Hakmi
New Delhi’s engagement with Africa: Seeking geopolitical alignment
Shubrajeet Konwer
Review Essay
Understanding the rise of China through its leaders by Mandira Bagwandeen
Book Reviews
How Migration Really Works by Hein de Haas
Reviewed by Alan Hirsch
Routledge Handbook of Contemporary African Migration by Daniel Makina & Dominic Pasura (eds.)
Reviewed by Alan Hirsch
Settling Nature: The Conservation regime in Palestine-Israel by Irus Braverman
Reviewed by Steven Robins
