18th Biennial Conference of the African Political Science Association

The 18th Biennial Conference of the African Political Science Association will be held from 7 to 10 December 2025 in Dakar, Senegal.

State sovereignty has been a fundamental principle of international relations since the establishment of the Westphalian state system in 1648 (Osiander, 2001). It characterizes relations between states and guarantees, at least in principle, their autonomy and authority within their borders as well as their place in the comity of nations (Goldsmith, 1999). However, the concept of state sovereignty, particularly in Africa, has been subject to various challenges and transformations in the evolving landscape of global politics (Jackson, 1990; Lake, 2003; Herman and Brown, 2013) where multiple actors are increasingly active.

In the 21st century, the logical starting point is United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, which served as the legal basis for the invasion of Libya and the assassination of its leader, Muammar Gaddafi, in 2011 (Gholiagha & Loges, 2020; Pacheco, 2022; Nuruzzaman, 2022). This situation has given rise to a lively debate among African scholars and policymakers on the credibility of the responsibility to protect (R2P), particularly as applied by Western states to African states. Otunko et al (2019) argue that the sovereignty of African states has been eroded in the face of globalization, particularly the activities of multilateral and supranational institutions such as the United Nations (UN), the Bretton Woods institutions (IMF and World Bank), regional organizations such as the European Union (EU), multinational corporations (MNCs), and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). De Oliveira and Verhoeven (2023) argue that military intervention in weak states by their more powerful peers is one of the great constants in the history of international relations. They point out that the creation of two states in Africa (Eritrea and South Sudan) over the past three decades demonstrates the increasing erosion of the principles of non-interference, border integrity, and sovereignty that have structured Africa's international relations since 1963 (Nyhamar, 2000). Viewing sovereignty from a digital perspective, Gravett (2020) argues that China is making sustained efforts to become a "cyber superpower" and, in doing so, has made a significant entry into Africa's technological space, which has the potential to undermine the sovereignty of African states.

However, the development and global diffusion of technological infrastructure projects, as well as the spatial reconfigurations they entail, force us to reconsider our very conception of sovereignty. For example, the digital age has enabled citizens to become more politically active and to redefine the traditional conception of sovereignty beyond the state to include individuals. It is time to recognize that the use of the term “sovereignty” has often served to perpetuate the modernist dream of the nation-state as a fully sovereign entity. This dream is now obsolete, as current research on the global dynamics of political forms and societies demonstrates. Nevertheless, this dream continues to constitute the political agenda of nationalist parties worldwide. Therefore, we must pay attention to more nuanced versions of how states self-organize to manage their affairs and the types of international relations this entails, without falling back into the illusion of the sovereign nation-state that does not admit public sovereignty.

Trends in sovereignty are also rooted in the continuum and interconnectedness of “people, politics, and power” and focus on how power appears to be contested, including between the state and civil society, within the state, and between the nation-state and global/transnational forces. Citizens, in their various forms, have changing attitudes toward democracy and state power, partly reflected in a growing decline in trust in public institutions, but citizen agency is also evident in innovations and the organization of public power. Power is evolving with a growing interest in public sovereignty beyond state sovereignty; power as a shared agency to change society is evident in popular uprisings and voting patterns, engagement in social media, and so on.

This opens up some of the major upheavals at play, around contestations and consensuses in African politics as a practice and as a science: it is marked by growing disagreements on many fronts (on the nature of power, democracy, development, ecological issues, resource dynamics, technology and innovation, on the roles of key actors, including women and children). But there are consensuses on a number of fronts, at least among significant parts of society, such as the importance of state power, public policy instruments, constitutionalism to some extent, peace for development, security as a precondition for stability, post-conflict reconstruction and development, etc.) Equally, these agreements and disagreements exist and take various forms such as contestations over recolonization, the nexus between democracy and development, public policy planning and implementation, theory and practice, methods and methodologies.

It is in this context that the conference seeks to bring together African and Africanist intellectuals, researchers and practitioners to re-examine the controversial issues of the state, citizens, sovereignty and their impact on Africa's place in the international political system.

Key themes

The conference is expected to provide a platform for a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between state, people, and sovereignty in African and global politics, highlighting the challenges and opportunities for African states to maintain their autonomy and authority in an evolving international system with new actors. By examining the implications of evolving notions of state sovereignty and offering strategic perspectives, the conference aims to contribute to a better understanding of the dynamics at play at the intersection of state sovereignty, people's sovereignty, and global politics in Africa.

The following issues will be examined, among others:

1. State sovereignty: meaning and evolution;
2. Public sovereignty, state sovereignty and citizenship in Africa;
3. State sovereignty and state forms in Africa;
4. Regional cooperation, integration and support for African states in global politics;
5. Internal conflicts, human rights violations, corruption and state sovereignty;
6. National sovereignty, regional integration and Pan-Africanism;
7. Reimagining politics, people and power in Africa;
8. Reimagining the state and governance in Africa through new social contracts;
9. Sovereignty, good governance and development outcomes in Africa;
10. State, sovereignty and political regimes;
11. State, sovereignty and economic development in Africa;
12. External actors and influences in politics and governance in Africa;
13. The role of national diasporas in the creation of the United States of Africa;
14. Global politics, diasporas Africans and sovereignty in Africa;
15. Subnational sovereigns, local governments and non-state actors.