Conceptual and Analytic Framework

As highlighted in Chapter 1 , the evolving role and engagement of SNGs in international relations has found expression in Africa like other regions that have dominated the extant literature. Contrary to views that insinuate that only in South Africa has subnational foreign relations gained any traction, this chapter explores in more depth the reasons why the African context has not enjoyed the scholarly spotlight like other regions frequently captured in the extant paradiplomacy literature. We argue that the engagement of African SNGs in foreign relations is only best understood from the conceptual lens of developmental paradiplomacy. Primarily, we argue that developmental paradiplomacy in the African context is a form of subnational foreign relations informed by unique socio-economic imperatives, institutional/constitutional constraints, and power asymmetries rather than by aspirations for political autonomy or independent statehood found in other regions.