ABSTRACT
The transformation taking place in Africa following the collapse of the Cold War provides compelling reasons for students, scholars, and practitioners to re-evaluate the methodological, theoretical, and conceptual underpinnings of African States' foreign policy and foreign policy-making process. The concept of foreign policy describes the involvement of a state abroad. It refers to actions taken by a state towards the external environment as viewed from the perspective of the state in the pursuit of its national interests. This chapter focuses largely on the determinants of African States' foreign policy. At the very heart of this African marginalisation is the contemporary form of globalization— the march of capital all over the world in search of consumers and markets. Globalization has become a catchword associated with the 'compression' of the world into new patterns of production, integrated financial spheres, homogenization of cultures etc. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
