Concepts, Theories, and History of Space Law and Policy Development in Africa before Agenda 2063

This chapter introduces the concepts, theories, and formative history that shaped African space law and policy before Agenda 2063. It defines space law and policy and sets out the international regulation and norms under the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. The chapter identifies two interpretive lenses, Third World Approaches to International Law, and Cosmopolitan theory to position Africa’s participation and claims in international space discourse. It then locates space within the continent’s political projects of Pan-Africanism and decolonisation, tracing institutional evolution from the Organisation of African Unity to the African Union and the Abuja Treaty, highlighting the integration approaches. It analyses the ministerial and technocratic pathways that have defined regionalism in space under the stewardship of the African Ministerial Conference on Science and Technology and the Conference of African Ministers in charge of Communication and Information technologies and eventually the Space Working Group that would produce the first draft of the continental policy and strategy. The chapter also examines regional initiatives such as the Regional African Satellite Communication Organisation and the African Resource Management constellation. It also identifies the various forms of regional capacity building during this period such as the African Association of Remote Sensing of the Environment, UN-affiliated regional centres, and inter-regional engagements such as Africa-Europe Earth Observation Cooperation under Global Monitoring for Environment and Security and Africa. It identifies the gains, gaps, and the policy lessons that define and set the stage for later continental norm-making.