ABSTRACT
The penultimate chapter argued for cooperation as the organising principle in African international politics. However, in view of the realist claim in the preceding chapter, it is imperative to emphasise that we live in a liberal international order. This chapter investigates why the divisions and differences in Part I persist in spite of the extant cooperation in Africa as exemplified by its preeminent regional and sub-regional multilateral organisations. One of the most problematic areas, if not the most problematic area, of liberal international order is human rights. Although African states do not reject the human rights aspect of liberal international order as some non-Western states do, human rights are still problematic in Africa in spite of the African Charter for Human and Peoples’ Rights (the Banjul Charter). Therefore, I shall focus on human rights. Focusing on human rights in a microcosm of international liberal order that comprises 55 sovereign states entails interrogating the Westphalian system itself, and its organising principle, sovereignty. Especially because Westphalianism and sovereignty are a principal cause of: the divisions based on which Africans are differentiated; the differences based on which Africans are divided; and the identities and values that emanate from such divisions and differences.
