University of St Andrews

Faculty Member, International Relations

Professor

Thesis Title: Hegemony, “Common Sense” and Compromise: A Neo-Gramscian Analysis of Multilateralism in South Africa’s Post-Apartheid Foreign Policy

About

I am a Professor in International Relations and African Politics in the School of International Relations, University of St. Andrews. I am also Chair Professor in the School of International Studies, Renmin University of China. This is the highest rank a non-Chinese academic can hold at a Chinese university.

I am also Professor Extraordinary in Political Science at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa and an Honorary Professor in the Institute of African Studies, Zhejiang Normal University, China.

My citation ranking (h-index), measuring research output, extent to which my work is cited by my peers and its academic impact, is 25 - by far the highest in the entire School of International Relations, lol!

I have authored seven scholarly books, edited another eight and have published over fifty-five peer-reviewed academic articles, over sixty book chapters and numerous working papers, reports, op-eds, book reviews etc. I've been lucky enough to have been invited to present my research in 32 countries on six continents.

Before entering academia, I worked for the UNHCR in Hong Kong on the Vietnamese "Boat People" issue.

I hold a DPhil from the University of Stellenbosch and an MPhil from the University of Hong Kong. I also hold a teaching certificate from the International Language Institute, Cairo, Egypt, where I taught Somali and South Sudanese refugees.

Prior to joining St Andrews I taught African Politics and Development Studies at the Department of Political and Administrative Studies, University of Botswana for four years.

I have also taught at Dalhousie University (Canada); the University of Hong Kong; Mbarara University of Science and Technology (Uganda); Renmin University of China; the University of Stellenbosch and Zhejiang Normal University (China).

I am interested in development and governance issues, Afro-Asian ties, "emerging powers" (specifically the BRICS), comparative regionalisms, Africa's political economy and its international relations and in Chinese foreign policy. These last two strands come together in an extensive body of work, conducted since 1994 and based on extensive fieldwork across Africa, on China's emerging relationships with the continent.

I also have an abiding interest in neo-Gramscian theory and its contribution to International Relations.

I have recently published two new books: one on Africa's international relations (out in 2010) and one on the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (out in 2011).

I have also published a substantial body of work on South Africa's post-apartheid foreign policies. 

I have visited 36 African countries plus Reunion island (a little outpost of la gloire française) and am well traveled in Europe, Asia and North America.

Currently, I am the co-editor of the academic journal "African Security", published by Taylor & Francis, and was previously co-editor of the "Review of International Studies", the journal of the British International Studies Association.

My work has been translated into Afrikaans, Arabic, Chinese, French, German and Spanish.

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