Season of Rains: Africa in the World Today

Cover_Season_of_rains On the occasion of the 10^th Stephen Ellis Annual Lecture, the African Library compiled a special edition web dossier, connected to the subject of this year’s lecture: the place of Africa in the present world order and the issues facing African governance today.

Introduction

The book which is the starting point of this lecture and web dossier, entitled Seasons of rains: Africa in the world, by Stephen Ellis, was first published in 2011 and has since been translated into multiple languages. The idea behind the book, as Stephen Ellis writes in his foreword, came from an invitation of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to turn a short paper into a book that might help government officials to develop some new approaches to Africa.

From this onset the book evolved into, as stated in a review in the journal African Affairs (2012, vol.111, no. 442, pp 162-163):

“[…] a wide-ranging, pleasantly opinionated and thought-provoking book.” which “aims to give a historically informed assessment of Africa's place in the world in the early twenty-first century, with a special focus on the implications of China's rise as a global power and the prospects for economic development in Africa.”

The broader intention to bring the current state of Africa in the world to a wider public is reflected in the special program of the 10^th edition of the Stephen Ellis Annual Lecture, during which journalist and Africa correspondent Koert Lindijer will present a keynote speech on the issues facing African governance today.

As a warmup to the lecture, the African Library has compiled a reading list consisting of a selection of recent books related to its theme. The web dossier also lists books by Stephen Ellis and Koert Lindijer, and lastly, contains an overview of the web dossiers that have accompanied previous Stephen Ellis Annual Lectures in the past 10 years. Also included is the web dossier that accompanied the launch of Stephen Ellis’ last book, on crime in Africa.

The subjects of these past lectures and web dossiers list important issues that are, for the most part, present in Season of Rains, and Stephen Ellis’ broader writings. As a collection, they give insight into a number of major themes for understanding contemporary Africa.

Germa Seuren, African Library

Season of rains

La saison des pluies : L'Afrique dans le monde/ Stephen Ellis.
France : Éditions de la Maison des Sciences de l'homme, 2023.

Season of rains : Africa in the world/ Stephen Ellis and Desmond Tutu.
London : Hurst & Company, 2011.

Het regenseizoen : Afrika in de wereld/ Stephen Ellis.
Amsterdam : Bakker, 2011.

Africa in the world today

Debout Afrique!/ Diatrou Diakité.
Paris : L'Harmattan Mali, 2023. This volume sheds light on the position of Africa in a ‘multipolar’ world order. This order in which there are multiple centres of power and influence, creates different opportunities for African states in negotiating their position in this international constellation. The book also sheds light on aspirations for African unity in connection with its international position.

L'Afrique empoisonnée : pathologie et thérapie des conflits/ Albert Pahimi Padacké and Bertrand Badie.
Paris : L'Harmattan, 2023.
From his insider experience as a Chadian prime minister, the author analyses Africa’s political challenges and puts forward possible solutions for dealing with these issues.

Les paradoxes de l'État en Afrique : une ontologie politique de la liberté/ Dotsè Charles-Grégoire Alosse.
Paris : L'Harmattan Togo, 2023.
This book focuses on the discrepancy between African states’ dependence on foreign powers and international organisations, and their own potential. It argues for a ‘de-ideologisation’ from Western influences and urges African leaders to profit from their human and natural resources, and African cooperation.

Africa since decolonization : the history and politics of a diverse continent/ Martin Welz.
Cambridge, United Kingdom // New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2021. This book is an introduction and overview of African history and politics since decolonisation, emphasising the diversity of the continent. It addresses themes including decolonisation and its legacies, external influences, economics, political systems, inter-African relations, crises, conflicts and conflict management, and Africa's external relations, offering insights into the role African actors have played in influencing international affairs beyond the continent.

African political thought : an intellectual history of the quest for freedom/ Stephen Chan.
London : Hurst & Company, 2021. This book charts the long history of African political thought, from the years of the slave trade, through the development of modern African nationalism and the difficulties of governing new states, to Africa's political philosophy today, shedding light on the ideas of important African thinkers.

China and Africa : the new era/ Daniel Large.
Cambridge, UK // Medford, MA : Polity Press, 2021.
This book offers a guide to the relationship between China and Africa, being one of the most crucial geopolitical relationships of the past decades.

Gender, protests and political change in Africa/ Awino Okech.
Cham, Switzerland : Palgrave Macmillan, 2021. This book brings together conceptual debates on the impact of youth and gender on state building in Africa, offering analyses on the role of protests and informal channels, and how political power functions to counteract citizens' voices. It provides a basis for organisers and social movements to consider how to build solidarity beyond influencing government institutions.

Afrique democratie trahie : emergence de la politique africaine contemporaine pour une Afrique souveraine : essai/ Millé-Claude Mrandjo and Ahoua Donmello.
Bangangte, Cameroon : tig Books, 2020.
In this essay the author presents his vision on an African future.

Decolonization, development and knowledge in Africa : turning over a new leaf/ Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni.
Abingdon, Oxon // New York, NY : Routledge, 2020.
Online version
In this book the author links African development, and the continued entanglement of African political economy in an unequal global division of power, to undecolonised political and economic thought.

Peace, democracy and development in Africa/ David J. Francis, et al.
London : Adonis & Abbey Publishers Ltd., 2020. While Africa is seen by some as a rising hopeful continent, the book shows that the trajectory it is taking continues to go through setbacks. Using case studies covering different themes and settings, the book recommends policy options that could alleviate the challenges in Africa's development.

Political instability in Africa/ Lere Amusan and Isiaka A. Badmus.
Washington [D.C.] : Academica Press, 2020. This book offers analyses of the causes, nature, and changing patterns of armed conflict in Africa as well as the reasons for these patterns. The collection assembles the work of African scholars offering insights into the problem of political instability.

Reflections on leadership and institutions in Africa/ Kenneth Kalu and Toyin Falola.
London // New York : Rowman & Littlefield International, 2020.
This book explores the nature and impacts of leadership and institutions on Africa's development.

Authoritarian Africa : repression, resistance, and the power of ideas/ Nic Cheeseman and Jonathan Fisher.
New York // Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2019.
A higher education history textbook on the history of authoritarianism in Africa.

L'Etat de distorsion en Afrique de l'Ouest : des empires à la nation/ Jean-François Bayart, et al.
Paris : Karthala, 2019.
In this volume, the authors analyse the functioning of African nation-states in all its complexity, taking into account history before and after colonisation, and the specific adaptation of this state form into different African societies and nations.

Indépendances inachevées en Afrique : nous n'avons jamais été indépendants/ Paul Batibonak. Paris : L'Harmattan, 2019, also available as Indépendances inachevées en Afrique = Unfinished independence in Africa./ Sariette Batibonak and Paul Batibonak. Yaoundé : Monange, 2019. The texts in this book highlight the major political figures and the main achievements of the era of proto-independence. Yet, the authors in this volume stress the need to continue the struggles to liberate Africa from forms of continued or neo-colonialism. Chapters focus on the role of NGO’s, development aid, the CFA Franc zone, the role of China, and others forms of continued dependence. The contributions recall the imperative of constant monitoring for consistent self-determination and refusing contemporary interference.

The postcolonial African state in transition : stateness and modes of sovereignty/ Amy Niang.
New York : Rowman & Littlefield International, 2018.
In this book, the author argues that the disfunctioning of many African nation-states may be the consequence of the way the concept state is defined. She argues that a broader interpretation of the concept state could help to find a form of state more fitting in the context of African societies.

State and development in post-independent Africa/ Samuel O. (Samuel Ojo) Oloruntoba and Vusi Gumede.
Austin, Texas : Pan-African University Press, 2018. There have been mixed results on the activities of the state and economic development in Africa over the past five decades of gaining political independence. This book contributes to the debates on the domestic and external forces that have continued to shape the role of the state in fostering socio-economic and political development in post-independent Africa. Contributors to this volume suggest solutions and chart alternative strategies for achieving inclusive development.

Africa in world politics : constructing political and economic order/ John W. (John Willis) Harbeson and Donald S. Rothchild.
Boulder, CO : Westview Press, 2017. The sixth edition of Africa in World Politics focuses on challenges African states face in constructing viable political economies in contexts both of familiar domestic challenges and engagements, opportunities, and threats emanating from a turbulent and rapidly changing international order.

The African affairs reader : key texts in politics, development, and international relations/ Nic Cheeseman, et al.
Oxford, United Kingdom : Oxford University Press, 2017. This book draws together articles published in African Affairs over the last decade, along with four new chapters written by the editors which introduce key debates. It is broken down into four sections that cover themes and questions facing the continent today, including: the African state, the political economy of development, Africa's relationship with the world, and elections, representation, and democracy.

African futures : essays on crisis, emergence, and possibility/ Brian Goldstone and Juan Obarrio.
Chicago // London : The University of Chicago Press, 2016. The experts in this book address Africa's future as it is embedded within various social and cultural forms emerging on the continent today. Bringing together social, political, religious, and economic viewpoints, the book reveals multiple prospects for the future of Africa.

Afrotopia/ Felwine Sarr.
Paris : Philippe Rey, 2016. In Afrotopia, Felwine Sarr provides a reflection on the way in which Africa must reposition itself in the world on its own initiative and on the basis of a vision that reflects its own specific particularities. In twelve chapters that combine economic, philosophical and cultural references, the author exposes the challenge of “forward thinking” by defining Afrotopia as “an active utopia that aims to uncover the immense arena of potentialities within the real Africa and fertilize them”.

Ethnic politics and state power in Africa : the logic of the coup-civil war trap/ Philip G. Roessler.
Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2016. In this book, the author models ethnically-divided states as confronting rulers with a coup-civil war trap: sharing power with ethnic rivals is necessary to underwrite societal peace and prevent civil war, but increases rivals' capabilities to seize sovereign power in a coup d'état. How rulers respond to this strategic trade-off is shown to be a function of their country's ethnic geography and the distribution of threat capabilities it produces.

Questions africaines post-guerre froide/ Mwayila Tshiyembe.
Paris : L'Harmattan, 2016. In this book, the author analyses issues reflecting the tension caused by Africa's voluntary or forced insertion into globalisation. It also looks at the role of the African Union in its quest for regional governance, at a time when the emergence of regional or transcontinental megablocs risks negatively or positively impacting its dynamics. At the same time the end of presidential mandates plunges African democracies into new periods of uncertainty.

Regenerating Africa : bringing African solutions to African problems/ Samuel Oloruntoba, et al.
Pretoria : Africa Institute of South Africa, 2016.
The contributors address how African solutions to African problems in the current global context can be thought, designed and engineered to create a sustainable African future.

The bright continent : breaking rules and making changes in modern Africa/ Dayo Olopade.
London : Duckworth, 2014. This book calls for a shift in thinking about Africa and argues that the path to progress in Africa lies in the innovative solutions Africans are finding for themselves. The author shows that the increasingly globalised challenges Africa faces can and must be addressed with the tools Africans are already using to solve these problems themselves. The author sees Africa's ability to do more with less as a ray of hope and a model for the rest of the world.

Other books by/on Stephen Ellis

Charlatans, spirits and rebels in Africa : the Stephen Ellis reader/ Stephen Ellis and Tim Kelsall.
London : Hurst & Company, 2022.

External mission : the ANC in exile, 1960-1990/ Stephen Ellis.
Jeppestown, [Johannesburg] : Jonathan Ball, 2022.

Crime, law and society in Nigeria: essays in honour of Stephen Ellis/ R. Akinyele, A.J. Dietz.
Leiden : Brill, 2019.

Stephen Ellis bibliography/ Jos Damen.
Leiden : African Studies Centre Leiden ASCL, 2016.

This present darkness : a history of Nigerian organised crime/ Stephen Ellis.
London : Hurst & Company, 2016.

Madagascar : a short history/ Solofo Randrianja and Stephen Ellis.
London : Hurst, 2009.

Movers and shakers : social movements in Africa/ Stephen Ellis and Ineke van Kessel.
Leiden [etc.] : Brill // Leiden : University Library Leiden [Host], 2009.

International migration : opportunity and challenge for South Africa/ Stephen Ellis.
[Place of publication not identified] : Fonds d'analyse des sociétés politiques FASOPO, 2006.

The role of religion in development : towards a new relationship between the European Union and Africa/ Gerrie ter Haar and Stephen Ellis.
[S.l.] : European Asssociation of Development Research and Training Institutes, 2006.

How to rebuild Africa/ Stephen Ellis.
[S.l.] : Council on Foreign Relations, 2005.

Africa's wars : the historical context/ Stephen Ellis.
[S.l. : s.n.], 2004.

The old roots of Africa's new wars/ Stephen Ellis.
[S.l.] : [s.n.], 2004.

Worlds of power : religious thought and political practice in Africa/ Stephen Ellis and Gerrie ter Haar.
New York [etc.] : Oxford University Press, 2004.

Witch-hunting in central Madagascar 1828-1861/ Stephen Ellis.
Oxford : The Past and Present Society, 2002.

War in West Africa/ Stephen Ellis.
Medford : The Fletcher Forum, 2001.

Reporting Africa/ Stephen Ellis.
Philadelphia : Current History, 2000.

The criminalization of the state in Africa/ Jean-François Bayart, et al.
Oxford : Currey [etc.] // Bloomington, IN [etc.] : Indiana University Press, 1999.
In: African issues.

The mask of anarchy : the destruction of Liberia and the religious dimension of an African civil war/ Stephen Ellis.
London : Hurst, 1999.

Vérité sans réconciliation en Afrique du Sud/ Stephen Ellis and Rachel Bouyssou.
Paris : Presses de Sciences Po, 1999.

L'insurrection des menalamba : une révolte à Madagascar, 1895-1899/ Stephen Ellis, et al.
Paris [etc.] : Karthala [etc.], 1998.

La criminalisation de l'État en Afrique/ Jean-François Bayart, et al.
Bruxelles : Éditions Complexe, 1997.

Africa now : people, policies & institutions/ Stephen Ellis.
London [etc.] : James Currey [etc.] // Portsmouth, N.H. : Heinemann, 1996.

Les nouvelles forces de sécurité sud-africaines : frères de sang, le baiser de l'ennemi/ Stephen Ellis.
Paris : La Découverte, 1996.

Democracy in Sub-Saharan Africa : where did it come from? Can it be supported?/ Stephen Ellis.
Maastricht : ECDPM European Centre for Development Policy Management, 1995.

Entreprises et entrepreneurs africains/ Stephen Ellis and Y.-A. (Yves-André) Fauré.
Paris : Karthala // Paris : Orstom, 1995.

De Klerk-Mandela : l'inévitable entente/ Stephen Ellis.
Paris : Berger-Levrault, 1993.

Un complot colonial à Madagascar : l'affaire Rainandriamampandry/ Stephen Ellis.
Antananarivo : Éditions Ambozontany // Paris : Éditions Karthala, 1990.

The rising of the Red Shawls : a revolt in Madagascar, 1895-1899/ Stephen Ellis.
Cambridge [Cambridgeshire, etc.] : Cambridge University Press, 1985.
In: African studies series