Dr David Williams is head of the Department of International Politics at City University London. This paper explores the question of what might be meant by a specifically state agency. The paper is primarily theoretical, but it is inspired by recent events in Africa where the question of what is meant by state agency has been posed particularly acutely.

Dr Danielle Beswick is a Lecturer in the International Development Department, University of Birmingham, and Director of the Research Group on Statebuilding in Difficult Environments. Reflecting the contention that politics should be seen in systemic perspective, and the need to embed analysis of African states’ policies within multiple relevant contexts, this paper adopts a multi-level approach. It will specifically explore the Rwandan regime’s interactions with donors, civil society and...

Professor Chris Landsberg is Head of the Department of Politics at the University of Johannesberg. This paper, given at the "African Agency: Implications for IR Theory" seminar at City University London in September 2011, seeks to explore the challenges faced by Africans as they struggle to restore the continents agency and leadership in world affairs.

Dr Carl Death is Lecturer in International Politics at Aberystwyth University. This paper, given at the "African Agency: Implications for IR Theory" seminar at City University London in September 2011, argues that by treating governmentality as an analytical approach rather than a specifically neoliberal form of power relation, it can have considerable purchase in non-liberal societies, and can also tell us something interesting about the unevenness of contemporary global politics.

Dr William Brown is Senior Lecturer in Government and Politics at the Open University. This paper, given at the "African Agency: Implications for IR Theory" seminar at City University London in September 2011, considers some of the substantive and theoretical issues raised by the issue of African agency in international relations.

Dr Stefan Andreasson is Senior Lecturer in Comparative Politics at Queen's University Belfast. This paper, given at the "African Agency: Implications for IR theory" seminar at City University London in September 2011 examines ‘African agency’ in an emerging markets century characterised by an increasingly influential role of non-Western state actors in the global political economy, and in international relations more generally.