African geopolitics

The “Ecopolitics in Africa” module is devoted to an approach to Africa in terms of political ecology.

It focuses on tensions, conflicts and political and diplomatic regulations around issues of two types/scales: on the one hand, localized and circumscribed issues such as issues around water and land or issues related to protected areas and on the other hand, more global issues related to climate change and its tropical and African repercussions and the negotiations they feed and the way in which African States and actors participate in them.

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Urban development in Africa is a central question for anyone who wants to understand the complex relationships between the immediate needs of the population, the mechanisms of service provision and the exercice of public authority (demand / delivery / regulation).

By focusing on the provision of basic urban amenities and services, this course will encourage the students to develop a critical approach mobilising both general theories of justice and concrete case studies.

Students are expected to engage with a wide variety of materials ranging from legal frameworks to community-led initiatives, and from practitioners’ reports to more reflective academic literature.

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This module aims to address geopolitical issues in Africa using a specific methodology.

Following Yves Lacoste's conception, the geopolitical approach deals with rivalries of power over territories.

Case studies deals with various topics, such as informal street trading or conflict related with minorities, or boarders.

During the session, students will carry out multi-scale analyses based on the diatope method (Lacoste, 2008).

The geopolitical approach is used through the notions of territory, actor, resource, representation, power relation and scale.

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