John W. Harbeson is Professor of Political Science emeritus in the City University of New York in its Graduate Center and in City College. He is the author or editor of 13 books, including Civil Society and the State in Africa (with Donald Rothchild and Naomi Chazan), Nation Building in Kenya: The Role of Land Reform, The Ethiopian Transformation: The Quest for the Post-Imperial State and the previous editions of this book (the first three with the late Donald Rothchild). He has served as Democracy and Governance Advisor for Eastern and Southern Africa in the U.S. Agency for International Development. He has been a Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow in the U.S. Institute of Peace. He is the first recipient of the Distinguished Africanist Award of the African Politics Conference Group of the American Political Science Association and the African Studies Association.

Donald Rothchild (1928-2007), who co-edited the first three editions of Africa in World Politics, was one of the foremost students of African international relations, authoring or editing two dozen books and more than seventy articles over a career spanning almost 50 years. He was a Professor of Political Science at the University of California-Davis from 1965 until his death, and he was named a Distinguished Professor in 2003.

Part 1 The Contemporary Context in Historical Perspective 1. Sustaining Reform in a Turbulent World Order John W. Harbeson 2. Africa in the Modern World System and Global Orders Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni Part 2 Building Viable Political Economies 3. Africa and the Global Economy after Aid Dependence Nicolas van de Walle Cornell University 4. States, Markets and Financial Liberalization in Africa M. Anne Pitcher 5. Women and Politics in Africa Aili Tripp 6. Democracy and the State in Sub-Saharan Africa John W. Harbeson Part 3 In Search of Elusive State Reconstruction 7. The International Factor in African Warfare William Reno 8. The Great Lakes Region: Thirty Years of Instability Filip Reyntjens 9. The Politics of Climate Change in Sub-Saharan Africa Gildfred Asiamah, Mohammed Awal 10. The Politics of Democratization and the State of the State In the Sahel Leonardo Villalon Part 4 Engaging the International Community Anew 11. The Diplomacy of African Conflicts I..William Zartman 12. China in Africa David Shinn 13. Peacebuilding and Democracy after War: Taking Stock Carrie Manning and Ozlem Tuncel 14. Africa Union 2.0: Relaunching the Pan-African Project Ulf Engel 15. Reconciling Sovereignty with Responsibility: A Basis for International Humanitarian Action Ambassador Francis Deng and David Deng