SAJIA Volume 31.2 Explores African Early Warning Systems and Adaptive Alignment in Peace Processes

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.