An edited volume where the different authors openly criticize each other's contributions is something one does not often see. This makes Theory, Change and Southern Africa's Future an interesting and refreshing book. A thorough intellectual exercise, the book's eleven contributors each elaborate on a specific International Relations (IR)-related theoretical or conceptual stance and use this to describe and analyze the Southern African region and regionalization process. Although there is no single thread in the book, the editors do make two overall claims besides contributing to a dialogue on IR-theory related to the Southern Africa region. The first one stresses the importance of inter-paradigm debate with respect to the ‘grand old IR theories' such as realism, pluralism and globalism. The second concerns a desire “to go beyond the discipline in the direction of a more self-conscious, and holistic social theory, one which extends both beyond and below the purview of mainstream IR” (p.14).

These claims make Hussein Solomon's task of defending realism all the more treacherous. Solomon's contribution has clearly been put in the beginning of the volume to serve as a red rag for the other contributors, although he does defend realism with vigor and conviction. The chapter serves its purpose: almost all subsequent chapters criticize elements of realism, often referring to Solomon's chapter, and in the end leave no doubt about the many weak spots of realism. Björn Hettne, writing on new regionalism, is the first to seriously challenge the explanatory value of realism with respect to Southern Africa. Taking security as the dominant regional issue, Hettne argues that an emphasis on formal regional organizations, including SADC and the states in Southern Africa, leads to a focus on the wrong actors in understanding the "actual patterns of the regionalization process" (p.107).

Bertil Odén, dealing with South African hegemony, tries to broaden the theoretical scope away from the classic inter-paradigm IR debate. Not so much using a specific theoretical perspective but based more on conceptual notions of hegemony, Odén identifies and discusses five objectives to a South African hegemonic regime in the region. His conclusion is that a benevolent South African hegemony does not have to be negative for the regionalization process going on in Southern Africa, but only if it is contained in a cooperative regionalization framework (p.190). Andre du Pisani follows in the same fashion, dealing with regime theory. After a rather short investigation into the meaning and premises of regime theory, he directly relates it to Southern Africa – unlike many others in the volume - and does so in quite a structured and elaborate way. Du Pisani concludes that SADC could become one of the more robust regional regimes in Africa, but only if it makes clear political and governance choices for the future, acceptable to all different actors and stakeholders involved.

Theory and Southern Africa's reality are not always very well linked in the book. This is clearly shown in Lisa Thompson's chapter on feminism. In itself a good overview of feminist theory, Thompson does not seem to be able to give it a very relevant practical application when it comes to Southern Africa. Other then the point that SADC and its member states are characterized by standard gendered (i.e. male-dominated) patterns and the classic political and governance emphases on security and militarism that follow from this, she solely focuses on criticizing realism. The last chapter by Larry A. Swatuk deals with green political theory and ecology. Through these ‘green lenses' and with an emphasis on environmental security, Swatuk comes to the same conclusion as earlier chapters: “State-centered thinking and approaches to resource management and environmental security cannot solve problems in a region where the state itself is a fundamental part of the problem” (p.287). He presents this as an overall conclusion for the whole volume, but this does not really suffice.

What remains lacking after this last chapter is some kind of concluding critical reflection of the theories used, leading to the so desired "more self-conscious, and holistic social theory." Each author seems to be a fervent proponent of the theory she or he uses and no concluding chapter is given in which different strains are tied together in order to address the second claim made in the introduction. Chapter 2 by Peter Vale on Southern Africa's search for theory, in some respect tries to fulfill this overarching aim. Although the chapter in itself is very useful in giving an introductory theoretical overview, it can not fulfill this claim since, due to its place in the volume, it is not written to be a retrospective theoretical summary making use of hindsight and acquired knowledge. The volume could have significantly gained in theoretical importance if this had been done. One would then feel there is, besides an obvious beginning, also a clear ending to the book.

A second point of critism concerns the focus on Southern Africa. Because the different contributors are so concerned with defending ‘their' theoretical framework, it sometimes tends to become a tight straightjacket, whereby it appears difficult to bring Southern Africa into the picture. Chapters 3, 6, 10 and 11 on realism, international political economy, critical theory and feminist theory are examples in this regard. Despite these two points of critique, this book is well worth reading for everyone interested in theories in International Relations in general and students of (Southern) Africa from different disciplines, but with an interest in international or regional issues, in particular. Potentially it could even be used as a course textbook for graduates in IR, political science, sociology or development and Africa studies. It provides plenty of food for thought and does give an overview of important theoretical and conceptual directions in IR, directed towards Southern Africa.

Bram Büscher
Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam