Stefan Andreasson
I am Reader (Assoc. Prof.) in Comparative Politics in the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics at Queen's University Belfast. I received my PhD from the Department of Political Science at Arizona State University.
I work in the areas of comparative and international politics with a primary interest in the political economy of development. Recently this research focuses primarily on energy and natural resources, including how international oil and gas companies have shaped twentieth-century international relations and how today they are engaging with climate governance and shaping energy transitions. Geographically my research has mainly been focussed on sub-Saharan Africa, and in particular Southern Africa, and the post-colonial world more generally.
Having also taught an introductory course on American Politics for nearly 20 years, I am progressively integrating my interests in American politics into my wider research agenda by approaching the US case from a comparative perspective and in the wider context of American Political Development. Specific interests include the politics of transitions (e.g., the American Revolution and Reconstruction), postcolonial and race relations (e.g., comparative studies of Jim Crow and settler minority rule in Southern Africa) and US energy politics with a focus on the history of "Big Oil".
My research at Queen's has been funded by the ESRC World Economy and Finance Research Programme, the British Academy, the Nuffield Foundation and the DfE Global Challenges Research Fund.
Publications indicative of my key research interests have appeared in journals such as Political Studies, Political Geography, Business & Society, Third World Quarterly, Democratization, The Extractive Industries and Society, Annual Review of Environment and Resources, Journal of Contemporary African Studies and Commonwealth & Comparative Politics. I am also the author of Africa’s Development Impasse: Rethinking the Political Economy of Transformation (Zed Books).
Supervisors: Hendrik Spruyt, Patrick McGowan, and Peter McDonough
I work in the areas of comparative and international politics with a primary interest in the political economy of development. Recently this research focuses primarily on energy and natural resources, including how international oil and gas companies have shaped twentieth-century international relations and how today they are engaging with climate governance and shaping energy transitions. Geographically my research has mainly been focussed on sub-Saharan Africa, and in particular Southern Africa, and the post-colonial world more generally.
Having also taught an introductory course on American Politics for nearly 20 years, I am progressively integrating my interests in American politics into my wider research agenda by approaching the US case from a comparative perspective and in the wider context of American Political Development. Specific interests include the politics of transitions (e.g., the American Revolution and Reconstruction), postcolonial and race relations (e.g., comparative studies of Jim Crow and settler minority rule in Southern Africa) and US energy politics with a focus on the history of "Big Oil".
My research at Queen's has been funded by the ESRC World Economy and Finance Research Programme, the British Academy, the Nuffield Foundation and the DfE Global Challenges Research Fund.
Publications indicative of my key research interests have appeared in journals such as Political Studies, Political Geography, Business & Society, Third World Quarterly, Democratization, The Extractive Industries and Society, Annual Review of Environment and Resources, Journal of Contemporary African Studies and Commonwealth & Comparative Politics. I am also the author of Africa’s Development Impasse: Rethinking the Political Economy of Transformation (Zed Books).
Supervisors: Hendrik Spruyt, Patrick McGowan, and Peter McDonough
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In Africa's Development Impasse, Stefan Andreasson analyses this failure and explores the potential for post-development alternatives. Examining the post-independence trajectories of Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa, the book shows three different examples of this failure to overcome a debilitating colonial legacy. Andreasson then argues that it is now time to resuscitate post-development theory's challenge to conventional development. In doing this, he claims, we face the enormous challenge of translating post-development into actual politics for a socially and politically sustainable future and using it as a dialogue about what the aims and aspirations of post-colonial societies might become.
This important fusion of theory with empirical case studies will be essential reading for students of development politics and Africa.
ENDORSEMENTS OF AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT IMPASSE
'Stefan Andreasson has crafted a very well-grounded/-informed treatise about both region & literatures, juxtaposing politics & economics with sociology & history. He is both revisionist & idealistic about the elusiveness of development & democracy, advocating a post-development perspective. He confronts notions of developmental state/nexus along with corporatism by reference to the comparative political economy of a trio of Southern African states. This book constitutes a major contribution to (Southern) African & (post-) development studies at the start of the second decade of the 21st century following the recent global financial restructuring. The latter might just offer a new space or window for the global South to finally overcome the development impasse in this as other continents.' - Professor Timothy M Shaw, Institute of International Relations at the University of the West Indies
'This important book interrogates Africa’s position under the conditions of late modernity and the hegemony of liberalism and offers up an original vision for a genuinely emancipatory project that may, finally, create space for the continent’s own thinking on development issues. By engaging with the post-development debates, Andreasson’s work makes a highly innovative contribution to discussions about how and in which ways the continent can negotiate its own future, drawing upon its indigenous intellectual and material resources.' - Ian Taylor, University of St Andrews/University of Stellenbosch
'A bold and imaginative reflection, in the context of southern Africa, on what the post-development injunction to seek alternatives to development can actually mean. This book contains the most sensitive and nuanced treatment of post-development thinking I have read. I highly recommend this volume not just to Africanists, but to all those who, with an open mind, are willing to reconsider just what the 'development' enterprise is and might be.' - Richard Sandbrook, Professor of Political Science, University of Toronto
REVIEWS OF AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT IMPASSE
‘This is an excellent contribution in the post-development studies literature and an inspiring book to place in the hands of those who need to carry out the transformation...’ – Progress in Development Studies (2011)
‘Africa’s Development Impasse is commendable above all for its willingness to engage with ideas about the radical transformations necessary to come to “genuinely broad-based and sustainable development” in an “African post-colonial order”...’ – Journal of Modern African Studies (2011)
‘Andreasson unveils in this book a highly innova¬tive contribution to the discussion about how and in which ways Africa can negotiate to forge its own future... The book is thought-provoking...’ – Africa Today (2011)
‘A provocative and path-breaking study...’ – Leeds African Studies Bulletin (2010)"
Papers
In Africa's Development Impasse, Stefan Andreasson analyses this failure and explores the potential for post-development alternatives. Examining the post-independence trajectories of Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa, the book shows three different examples of this failure to overcome a debilitating colonial legacy. Andreasson then argues that it is now time to resuscitate post-development theory's challenge to conventional development. In doing this, he claims, we face the enormous challenge of translating post-development into actual politics for a socially and politically sustainable future and using it as a dialogue about what the aims and aspirations of post-colonial societies might become.
This important fusion of theory with empirical case studies will be essential reading for students of development politics and Africa.
ENDORSEMENTS OF AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT IMPASSE
'Stefan Andreasson has crafted a very well-grounded/-informed treatise about both region & literatures, juxtaposing politics & economics with sociology & history. He is both revisionist & idealistic about the elusiveness of development & democracy, advocating a post-development perspective. He confronts notions of developmental state/nexus along with corporatism by reference to the comparative political economy of a trio of Southern African states. This book constitutes a major contribution to (Southern) African & (post-) development studies at the start of the second decade of the 21st century following the recent global financial restructuring. The latter might just offer a new space or window for the global South to finally overcome the development impasse in this as other continents.' - Professor Timothy M Shaw, Institute of International Relations at the University of the West Indies
'This important book interrogates Africa’s position under the conditions of late modernity and the hegemony of liberalism and offers up an original vision for a genuinely emancipatory project that may, finally, create space for the continent’s own thinking on development issues. By engaging with the post-development debates, Andreasson’s work makes a highly innovative contribution to discussions about how and in which ways the continent can negotiate its own future, drawing upon its indigenous intellectual and material resources.' - Ian Taylor, University of St Andrews/University of Stellenbosch
'A bold and imaginative reflection, in the context of southern Africa, on what the post-development injunction to seek alternatives to development can actually mean. This book contains the most sensitive and nuanced treatment of post-development thinking I have read. I highly recommend this volume not just to Africanists, but to all those who, with an open mind, are willing to reconsider just what the 'development' enterprise is and might be.' - Richard Sandbrook, Professor of Political Science, University of Toronto
REVIEWS OF AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT IMPASSE
‘This is an excellent contribution in the post-development studies literature and an inspiring book to place in the hands of those who need to carry out the transformation...’ – Progress in Development Studies (2011)
‘Africa’s Development Impasse is commendable above all for its willingness to engage with ideas about the radical transformations necessary to come to “genuinely broad-based and sustainable development” in an “African post-colonial order”...’ – Journal of Modern African Studies (2011)
‘Andreasson unveils in this book a highly innova¬tive contribution to the discussion about how and in which ways Africa can negotiate to forge its own future... The book is thought-provoking...’ – Africa Today (2011)
‘A provocative and path-breaking study...’ – Leeds African Studies Bulletin (2010)"