Overview

Based on a meta-theoretical approach and insights derived from analytic eclecticism as a comparative instrument, Olumuyiwa Babatunde Amao assesses Nigeria and South Africa’s foreign policy and intervention behavior in Africa, with a special focus on the conflict episodes in Sierra Leone (1991-1998) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (1997-2005). The Foreign Policy and Intervention Behavior of Africa's Middle Powers: An Analytic Eclecticism Approach explores the relative merits of structural realism and social constructivism in explaining Nigeria and South Africa’s motives and intervention behavior, and why more than one theoretical perspective is required to sufficiently analyze the complexity of their intervention decisions and behavior. It demonstrates the overlapping nexus between conflict intervention, structural constraints, relative power pursuit, and the dynamics of regional complexes. Amao demonstrates how Nigeria and South Africa’s relative power positions, identities as African actors, de-colonization and anti-apartheid struggles, and the existing values and bonds that their contiguous states share play a crucial role in their intervention behavior. Using Sierra Leone and the DRC as case studies, this book illustrates the advantage of applying a multi-perspective eclectic approach to foreign policy analysis and provides an alternative to the theoretical turf wars that are all too prevalent in the discipline of international relations.

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9781666939927

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Not tethered to any single research tradition, Amao deploys an eclectic strategy combining aspects of structural realism and social constructivism to deftly analyze the foreign policy behavior of two key African middle powers, Nigeria and South Africa. This well-researched book demonstrates how key concepts in international relations can be creatively adapted to better understand a region that does not always get the focused attention it deserves. -- Rudra Sil, University of Pennsylvania

Author Information

Olumuyiwa Babatunde Amao is research fellow at the Centre for Gender and Africa Studies at the University of the Free State.

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