The Politics of Civil Society in Africa

Emmanuel Matambo is the Research Director of the Centre for Africa-China Studies at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. While his research interest was initially focused on Africa’s growing and increasingly influential relationship with China – at the level of state-to-state interaction – he has gradually expanded his focus to people-to-people relations and the indispensable role of non-state actors (civil society, academia, etc.) in fortifying democracy and fostering economic growth in Africa as the continent navigates through an increasingly globalising international system.

Bhaso Ndzendze is an Associate Professor and Vice Dean of Internationalisation at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. His research work and postgraduate supervision examine the interaction between trade and territorial disputes – both continental and global – and Africa’s trade. He also examines how states use technologies to assert their territorial sovereignty and project power, and how, in turn, state power spawns newer technologies. His work contributes to International Relations Theory through applying and testing Regime Type Analysis, the Democratic Peace Thesis, Henderson’s Inverted Legitimacy and Type II Neoclassical Realism. He also works within Dependency and Hegemonic stability theories.