73289 - International Relations and Development in Africa

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the student will have acquired, in a critical manner and with reference to international academic research literature, a good knowledge of the political history of contemporary Africa in its international dimension. In particular, the student will be able to: A) analyze and discuss the main elements of the political development and transformations of the political systems of contemporary African considering the internal, regional and international context; B) analyze and discuss the main factors defining the role and location of Africa in contemporary global politics and international relations; C) analyze and evaluate empirically the development strategies and governance reforms, also in relation to the role of the international policies of the major donors; D) find and arrange documentary and bibliographic sources using libraries, databases and websites, and organize, both verbally and by written essays, the knowledge acquired during the course.

Course contents

The course is organized in two sections (see below for readings and organizations of classes):

Section (A): lectures aimed to introduce students to the key conceptual tools. This section will analyse the relationship between the countries of sub-Saharan Africa and the international community within the framework of the prevailing development issues in the following periods: independence and the Cold War; Washington consensus; democratization; the third millennium and the new international consensus on 'stability' and 'security'.

Section (B): seminar classes for in-depth discussions of the Part A framework in view of a selection of country case-studies in sub-Saharan Africa, and for debating the new research questions that will come to light during classes. The main focus will be the challenges of democracy in the 2000s: they will be examined considering the local and international context, and the development issues

Readings/Bibliography

For a better understanding of the topics developed during this course unit, it is suggested the preliminary reading of: A.M. Medici, A. Pallotti e M. Zamponi, L'Africa contemporanea, Firenze, Le Monnier-Mondadori, 2017

Programme for students attending classes

Section A (mandatory readings for all):

* A. Pallotti e M. Zamponi, L'Africa sub-sahariana nella politica internazionale, Le Monnier - Mondadori, Firenze, 2010: capp. 1, 2, 3 (solo pp. 58-62), 4, 5 (only pp. 89-93), 7, 8, 9, 10; 12, 13 (only pp. 197-203), 14

* A. Pallotti, M. Zamponi, Le parole dello sviluppo. Metodi e politiche della cooperazione internazionale, Carocci editore, 2014: capp. 1 e 8.

* A. Pallotti e C. Tornimbeni, “Democracy in sub-Saharan Africa: Historical Legacies, International Pressures and New Political Challenges”, in V. Fargion and M. Gazibo (eds.)., Revisiting EU-Africa Relations in a Changing World, Cheltenham, Glos; Edward Elgar Publishing, 2021, pp. 224 – 239

* R. Abrahamsen, “Discourses of Democracy, Practices of Autocracy: Shifting Meanings of Democracy in the Aid-Authoritarianism Nexus”, in T. Hagmann and F. Reyntjens (eds), Aid and Authoritarianism in Africa: Development without Democracy, London: Zed Books, 2016.

* M. Gazibo, “History, Democratic Theory and Democratization in Africa”, in T. Scarnecchia and C. Tornimbeni (eds.), Democracy in Sub-Saharan Africa. 2000-2025, James Currey, Woodbridge, 2026

Section B (1 mandatory reading of your choice):

* on Rwanda:

- E.J. Keller, Identity, Citizenship and Political Conflict in Africa, Indiana University Press, 2014: cap. 8

- G. Prunier, “Opération Turquoise: A Humanitarian Escape from a Political Dead End”, in H. Adelman, A. Suhrke (eds.), The Path of a Genocide. The Rwanda Crisis from Uganda to Zaire, Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, 2000.

* on Ethiopia:

- E. Fantini and L. Puddu. "Ethiopia and international aid: development between high modernism and exceptional measures", in T. Hagmann and F. Reyntjens (eds.), Aid and Authoritarianism in Africa: Development without Democracy, London: Zed Books, 2016, pp. 91-118.

- L. Aalen, Ethnic Federalism and Self-Determination for Nationalities in a Semi-Authoritarian State: the Case of Ethiopia, in “International Journal on Minority and Group Rights”, 13, 2006, pp. 243-261.

- J. Aalen, “Ethiopia’s “Inclusive Autocracy”: Crumbling or Transforming?”, in T. Scarnecchia and C. Tornimbeni (eds.), Democracy in Sub-Saharan Africa. 2000-2025, James Currey, Woodbridge, 2026

- S. Brown & J. Fisher, Aid donors, democracy and the developmental state in Ethiopia, in “Democratization”, 27, 2, 2020, pp. 185-203.

* on South Africa:

- D. James, ‘Property and Citizenship in South African Land Reform’, in S. Dorman, D. Hammett and P. Nugent (eds.), Making Nations, Creating Strangers. States and Citizenship in Africa, Brill 2007.

- M. Zamponi, "The South African Land Reform since 1994: Policies, Debates, Achievements", in A. Pallotti and U. Engel, South Africa after Apartheid, Brill, 2016, pp. 104-127.

- R. Solomon, Xenophobic violence and the ambivalence of citizenship in post-apartheid South Africa, in “Citizenship Studies”, 23, 2 (2019): 156-171.

- S. Booysen, “Democracy Evolving on a Jagged Curve – South Africa’s One-Party Dominance within Multiparty Democracy and Coalition Governance”, in T. Scarnecchia and C. Tornimbeni (eds.), Democracy in Sub-Saharan Africa. 2000-2025, James Currey, Woodbridge, 2026

* on Zimbabwe:

- M. Zamponi, ‘Land, State and National Citizenship in Zimbabwe’, in C. Tornimbeni (ed.), Working the System in Sub-Saharan Africa: Global Values, National Citizenship and Local Politics in Historical Perspective, Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2013.

- J. Alexander, “Zimbabwe since 1997: Land & the Legacies of War”, in A.R. Mustapha and L. Whitfield (eds.), Turning Points in African Democracy, Boydell & Brewer, 2009.

- T. Scarnecchia, “Did Democracy Ever Have a Chance in Zimbabwe?” Performative Democracy within Militarized State”, in T. Scarnecchia and C. Tornimbeni (eds.), Democracy in Sub-Saharan Africa. 2000-2025, James Currey, Woodbridge, 2026

* on Tanzania:

- A. Pallotti, Alla ricerca della democrazia. L'Africa sub-sahariana tra autoritarismo e sviluppo, Rubettino, Soveria Mannelli, 2013, cap. 8.

- A. Pallotti, "“Hapa kazi tu”. La Presidenza di John Pombe Magufuli e l’eclissi del processo di democratizzazione in Tanzania", in: C. Tornimbeni e P. Soave, Democrazia, populismo e autoritarismo: Trasformazioni politiche in Asia, Africa, Europa centro-orientale e Americhe, Milano, FrancoAngeli, 2023, pp. 126 – 145

- A. Pallotti, “Between the Shadow of the Past and the Contradictions of the Present: The Demise of Democracy in Tanzania”, in T. Scarnecchia and C. Tornimbeni (eds.), Democracy in Sub-Saharan Africa. 2000-2025, James Currey, Woodbridge, 2026

* on Ivory Coast:

- R. Marshall-Fratani, “The War of "Who Is Who": Autochthony, Nationalism and Citizenship in the Ivorian Crisis”, in S. Dorman, D. Hammett and P. Nugent (eds.), Making Nations, Creating Strangers. States and Citizenship in Africa, Brill 2007

- F. Akindès, “Côte d’Ivoire since 1993. The Risky Reinvention of a Nation”, in A.R. Mustapha and L. Whitfield (eds.), Turning Points in African Democracy, Boydell & Brewer, 2009.

- C. Hartmann, “The Alternatives to Democracy: Populist-Nationalism and Elitist-Developmentalism in Côte d’Ivoire”, in T. Scarnecchia and C. Tornimbeni (eds.), Democracy in Sub-Saharan Africa. 2000-2025, James Currey, Woodbridge, 2026

* on Mozambique:

- E. Morier-Genoud, "Mozambique since 1989: shaping democracy after socialism", in A.R. Mustapha and L. Whitfield (eds.), Turning Points in African Democracy, Boydell & Brewer, 2009.

- C. Tornimbeni, 50 anni di FRELIMO. Le diverse stagioni della democrazia in Mozambico, «Afriche e Orienti», 2012, anno XIV, n. 1-2/2012

- C. Alden, S. Chichava. "Cabo Delgado and the rise of Militant Islam: Another Niger Delta in the making?”, South African Institute of International Affairs Policy Briefing 221 (2020): 1-10.

- C. Tornimbeni, “FRELIMO’s Egemony in Question: An Historical Perspective on Power, Development, and Democracy in Mozambique”, in T. Scarnecchia and C. Tornimbeni (eds.), Democracy in Sub-Saharan Africa. 2000-2025, James Currey, Woodbridge, 2026

* on Kenya:

- E.J. Keller, Identity, Citizenship and Political Conflict in Africa, Indiana University Press, 2014: cap. 7.

- N. Cheesman, “Kenya since 2002. The More Things Change the More They Stay the Same”, in A.R. Mustapha and L. Whitfield (eds.), Turning Points in African Democracy, Boydell & Brewer, 2009

* on Tunisia:

- Natter, K. (2022). Tunisia’s migration politics throughout the 2011 revolution: revisiting the democratisation–migrant rights nexus. Third World Quarterly, 43(7), 1551-1569

- Tamburini, F. (2023). ‘How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Autocracy’: Kais Saied’s “Constitutional Self-Coup” in Tunisia. Journal of Asian and African Studies, 58(6), 904-921.

 

Programme for students non attending classes

(mandatory readings)

* A. Pallotti e M. Zamponi, L'Africa sub-sahariana nella politica internazionale, Le Monnier - Mondadori, Firenze, 2010, capp. 1, 2, 3 (only pp. 58-62), 4, 5 (only pp. 89-93), 7, 8, 9, 10; 12, 13 (only pp. 197-203), 14, 17, 18 (only pp. 277-282).

* A. Pallotti e C. Tornimbeni, “Democracy in sub-Saharan Africa: Historical Legacies, International Pressures and New Political Challenges”, in V. Fargion and M. Gazibo (eds.)., Revisiting EU-Africa Relations in a Changing World, Cheltenham, Glos; Edward Elgar Publishing, 2021, pp. 224 – 239.

* T. Hagmann and F. Reyntjens (eds), Aid and Authoritarianism in Africa: Development without Democracy, London: Zed Books, 2016: capp. 1 and 4

* T. Scarnecchia and C. Tornimbeni (eds.), Democracy in Sub-Saharan Africa. 2000-2025, James Currey, Woodbridge, 2026: capp. 1, 2, 3, 7 and 10

 

 

Teaching methods

The course provides an integrated structure between class attendance and the students’ preparatory work.

Attending students are required to attend classes after reading in advance the texts related to the Section of the course in which they are engaged. The students will attend classes for 28 hours, and will be supported by the professor in addressing the related readings in advance, particularly for the seminar classes. The two sections will be organized as follows:

- Section (A): 8 lectures (16 hours) by the professor for all students. The latter will be invited to debate the issues of the course programme during the presentation of the professor: students are supposed to formulate and justify their own vision and understanding of the topic of each class.

- Section (B): Students will be organised in two groups. The students of each group will attend 6 seminar classes (12 hours). Each student should be prepared to present one case study following the hypotheses initially formulated by the professor, and all students should be able to reply during presentations and stimulate original insights.

 

Assessment methods

The final exam consists in a written examination on all mandatory readings outlined in the ‘Readings/Bibliography’ section.

Final grade:

• Minimum analytical skills, limited knowledge of the course topics, overall correct language: 18-19;
• Fair analytical skills and knowledge of the course topics, appropriate language: 20-24;
• Good knowledge of the course topics and capacity for autonomous critical analysis of the course issues, mastery of specific terminology: 25-29;
• Very good to excellent knowledge of the course topics and use of specific terminology; capacity for original critical analysis: 30-30 L.

Attending students: the final assessment will also take into account the adequate participation in the discussions carried out in class on the basis of the preliminary study of the course readings, especially with regard to the seminar classes. This work allows the attending students to choose one case study for the final exam.

Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI): AI can be a useful tool to support independent study by providing in-depth analysis, summaries and self-assessment exercises. With regard to the final assessment for this course, the use of AI is prohibited during examinations in presence. Any use constitutes a violation of academic integrity.

Students with DSA or temporary or permanent disabilities should contact the dedicated University office in good time (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en): it will be their responsibility to propose any adaptations to the students concerned, which must however be submitted, with a 15-day notice, to the approval of the professor. The adaptations proposed will be evaluated by the professor in relation to the educational objectives of the course.

 

 

Teaching tools

At the beginning of the lessons the use of search engines and specialized sites for the multidisciplinary study of the course topics will be illustrated.

Classes will be supported by the use of a power point file, which will be updated during the course.

Office hours

See the website of Corrado Tornimbeni