Rethinking the “international”

Contextualizing Pan-Africanism as an international relations theory in a changing global (dis)order

Bibliographic Data

ID24020106
AuthorsSamuel Ojo Oloruntoba (0000-0003-4795-1332, University of South Africa), Zainab Monisola Olaitan (0000-0002-7935-5271, Queen's University, corresponding author)
Year2026
Publication date2026-08-05
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Asian and African Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0021-9096 • E-ISSN: 1745-2538
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/00219096261470386
OpenAlexW7197036468
LanguageEN
References cited33

In this paper, we ask, to what extent can Pan-Africanism constitute a valid theory of international relations? Using a qualitative methodology and a critical analytical framework, we position Pan-Africanism as an international relations theory. This paper argues that Pan-Africanism contains within it unique resources for analysis of global affairs in ways that recenter excluded voices from the Global South. The emerging possibilities of a fundamental shift from the trans-Atlantic world to that of an interlocking regional world of Afro-Euro-Asia make a strong case for the validity of Pan-Africanism as a theory of international relations.

Foreign policy · Global South · International relations · International relations theory · International studies · Position (finance) · Post-realism · African cultural and philosophical studies · International Development and Aid · South African History and Culture

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access