A protracted conventional knowledge within mainstream International Relations (IR) has
been that African agents (states, organizations, and diplomats) are consumers of international
norms and practices designed in the affluent countries of the Global North.
Papers in this special issue present a challenge to this view; they discuss the active
role and the influence of African actors in international politics and renew a call for
the development of IR theories, concepts, and methods that reflect Global Southern
and African experiences, ideas, institutions, actors and processes.
