Theory, change and the search for epistemological courage in shaping a new world order

No matter how narrowly you focus your spatial or temporal lenses, you are bound to catch sight of multiple significant challenges to human community. Many of these challenges are shared, such as Covid-19, though their impacts on individuals and groups are felt unevenly. Some challenges are immediate and existential, such as the wars in Ukraine, Syria, and Yemen. Others, such as race, gender, caste, and class-based inequalities, are deeply embedded in social structures, providing privilege and persecution, and reward and oppression in unequal measures. And climate change, though slower moving, holds out the prospect of leading to total social collapse. How to make sense of these dramatic changes? This essay explores the adequacy of theories of IR and G/IPE in explaining the emergent world (dis)order. It argues that, whether orthodox or critical, theory must find a way to centre humanity within the biosphere if theory is to adequately inform practice

From conflict to collaboration: Atewa Forestgovernance

The problem of forest degradation and loss has become theconcern of many countries. To address this challenge, somecollaborate in sustainable forest management. The mostsuccessful outcomes, however, are observed where localparticipation is an essential part of conservation efforts. InGhana, forests have experienced various degrees ofexploitation over the years, resulting in their ecologicaldecline. Despite its designation as a protected area for bio-diversity and ecosystem services, the Atewa Range ForestReserve in Ghana has been significantly impacted bydeforestation, illegal mining, and other destructive activi-ties

The "New" South Africa in Africa: Issues and Approaches

Today, as South Africans work out their post-apartheid future and as the old political and economic barriers with the rest of the continent crumble, it is probable that there will be a sustained increase in political-economic intercourse between the “hobbled leviathan” of the South and its continental neighbours, near and far. What repercussions will follow from this process? To what extent will it enhance prospects for political and economic development in the rest of the continent, and to what extent may it further constrain them? Who will be the main agents and beneficiaries of this expansion of South African-African interchange, and who will be its casualties? And what security consequences, broadly conceived, will result? This essay proceeds from the view that the process by which South Africa is more fully integrated into the continental political economy will defy broad generalisation. Rather, there is likely to be a complex pattern of “winners” and "losers", along with other interests which remain essentially unaffected, which must be explored and illuminated through careful, theoretically-informed empirical study. Furthermore, various non-state actors—both powerful MNCs and capital-rich development banks, and the proliferating institutions and associations of civil society—will be leading forces in this process, posing significant challenges of strategy and relevance to state and inter-governmental organisations