AFRICAN FOREIGN POLICIES. Stephen Wright. Westview Press, Boulder CO, 1999. pp. 260, Paper: $26, Cloth:$ 65.00.^©

Wright's introduction discusses the field in terms of traditional themes such as the impact of colonialism, resources, intergovernmental organizations, nonalignment, security and sovereignty, confronting apartheid South Africa, economic development, and centralized decisionmaking. He then underscores the significance of four developments revealed repeatedly in the case studies: the end of the Cold War, liberalization and democratization, the regionalization and globalization of economic relations, and debates over an "African agenda." Finally, Wright reframes the African foreign policy context to include changing capacities of the state and of African economies, new security perspectives and challenges, democratization and civil society, regionalism and regional powers, external influences, and continentalism. Wright did not prescribe any common outline or comparative framework for the contributors, whose case studies are conceived and presented largely in idiomorphic terms.

Assis Malaquias sees Angola as "a decaying state" whose miserable domestic, regional , and international constraints have precluded an effective foreign policy since independence. He urges "greater diplomatic and economic involvement at the regional level," especially learning "from the experience of other countries in the region -- such as South Africa, Zimbabwe, Namibia, and even Mozambique -- that are also attempting to overcome the legacy of many years of internal conflict" (p. 39).

For John R. Heilbrunn, Benin is "the flea on Nigeria's back", a derisive characterization that captures neither the essence of its foreign policy nor the scope of the chapter, which devotes only two pages to economic relations with Nigeria. Nevertheless, Heilbrunn accurately analyzes the radical fluctuations in Benin's foreign policy in terms of changing domestic coalitions, political factions within the state, and foreign actors, and hopes that the "critical maturity" and primacy of regional relations since the mid-1990s will lead to fuller West African integration (p. 61).

By contrast, Botswana's "exceptionality" for political stability, economic growth, and diplomatic leadership makes James Zaffiro's chapter an intriguing study of how weak states can exploit comparative advantages and opportunities to exert regional and continental leadership. For Botswana, "development policy is foreign policy" (p. 67, original italics), and foreign policy success will depend on long-term economic strategies to reduce vulnerabilities, foster greater regional integration, and diversify trade, aid, and technology sources.

The traumas of Ethiopia and Eritrea, the oldest and newest sub-Saharan states, are analyzed by Christopher Clapham in terms of political upheavals, superpower confrontation, Eritrea's unprecedented independence-by-secession, Ethiopia's true revolution followed by insurgent revolution, famine, warfare, and their involvement in regional conflicts. Their distinctive foreign policies are "related not so much to the problems of postcolonial statehood ... but to much older relationship patterns between highland and lowland, Christianity and Islam, and central autocracy and peripheral resistance. Foreign policy was ultimately no more than a part, albeit a very significant part, of ongoing conflicts whose nature was essentially domestic and regional" (p. 96). Jona Rono aims "to refute the negative image of Kenya widely held in Western capitals by exploring the perceptions of the Kenyan government" (p. 100), and applauding its pragmatic "good neighbor policy" that has stood the test of time.
By contrast, the chapter on Nigeria by Wright and Julius Emeka Okolo argues that a combination of domestic and external forces, coupled with economic mismanagement and failure to stabilize and democratize politics, have negatively affected its foreign policy options and capacity to exercise regional leadership.

According to Peter J. Schraeder, Senegal's foreign policy is a product of many unique factors such as elite socialist ideology, Wolof traditional culture, economic stagnation, Islam, and a tradition of civilian government, rather than explanations linked to dependency, the Cold War, or personal rule. He also contends that global marginalization has promoted regional cooperation. South Africa's foreign policy, as depicted by Paul-Henri Bischoff and Roger Southall, exhibits both important continuities and marked transformations, reflecting its domestic revolution, regional realignments, and post-Cold War global changes. Maria Nzomo sees Tanzanian foreign policy as conditioned mainly by structural determinants, particularly the colonial legacy, idiosyncratic factors, and economic underdevelopment and dependence, with political liberalization and East African integration representing hopeful recent trends. Zimbabwe's foreign policy, according to Solomon M. Nkiwane, is "robust, active, and daring ... proving that some small states have the capacity to play a constructive role in world affairs" (p. 199). Indeed, it offers several lessons for other regional states! Regionalism and regional organizations, as analyzed by Olufemi A. Babarinde, reveal a mixed record with only limited successes, but somewhat better prospects for the future. Finally, Timothy M. Shaw's and Julius E. Nyang'oro's "conclusion" is packed full with nine "central syndromes," seven "contextual features," nine foreign policy issues derived from case studies, and three alternative futures!
It has been many years since the publication of a book of comparable scope and approach.

All things considered, Wright's volume is an excellent survey of selected African states' foreign policies for advanced students and scholars. It is an obvious choice as a text for university courses in African politics or international relations. It could have been organized more coherently. Although there are loose threads of unity across the chapters, and regionalism is a pervasive theme, the alphabetical ordering of the chapters forfeited an opportunity to do more than assemble them from A(ngola) to Z(imbabwe). For example, the essays could have been arranged into three groups according to salient foreign policy determinants or themes, perhaps those emphasizing historical or structural constraints (e.g., Angola, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Tanzania), pragmatic accommodation to enduring "realities" (e.g., Kenya, South Africa), or creative activism, leadership, and even boldness (e.g., Botswana, Zimbabwe). Such suggestive classifications would have invited more explicit comparative speculation, enlarged the scope for critical assessment, and contributed modestly to the development of comparative African foreign policy analysis. Lastly, not to carp, but readers will occasionally find the profusion of acronyms (four full pages!) a bit annoying.

Joseph P. Smaldone
U.S. Department of State, and
Adjunct Professor, Georgetown University
Washington, DC