Call for Submissions – Vol. 7, No. 3

Deadline 23 July 2023: The Republic is currently accepting submissions for August-October 2023 issue, in which scholars and experts will critically discuss Sixty Years of the African Union

Written by The Republic

Jun 25, 2023

African Union Summit. AFRICAN UNION

Deadline: 23 July 2023

For our next issue, we are looking for essays that explore the significance of the African Union within and/or beyond Africa over the last 60 years.

We are currently accepting submissions for our August-October 2023 issue, in which scholars and experts will critically discuss Sixty Years of the African Union. Formerly known as the Organization for African Unity, the African Union (AU) was founded in 1963. Sixty years on, with continued criticism about the lack of clear regional leadership and coordination amid the promise of the African Continental Free Trade Area, to what extent has the AU achieved its promise of uniting Africa towards a shared vision of progress? 2023 equally represents an important commemorative year for several African countries: it marks 60 years since Nigeria became a republic, just as it marks 60 years since countries like Kenya gained independence. It, therefore, marks a critical milestone for Africa’s independence era.

Focusing on the experiences of the AU, Nigeria and other African countries, authors in our next issue will explore pan-Africanism as inherited and projected through the AU, the AU’s impact across Africa and on Africa’s global status; as well as what the future of pan-Africanism and therefore Africa could look like. We welcome submissions that highlight underdiscussed ideas, underrepresented voices, and underreported stories on any of the following topics:

SIXTY YEARS OF THE AFRICAN UNION

The political foundations, evolution and future of the AU
60 years on, how has the AU positioned itself politically? What is the AU succeeding at? What are the red flags? What are the threats to progress and the opportunities?
Where is the AU in the global and regional climate agenda?
What are the lessons from the AU’s response to coups, civil wars, conflicts, insecurity and equally the lessons from the AU’s response to regional opportunities in migration (diaspora affairs), trade, technology, entertainment, and other emergent industries?
The Africa Continental Free Trade Area once held a great deal of promise, what happened?
How is Africa, through the AU, thinking about the technological breakthroughs in artificial intelligence and/or other emergent technologies?
What has been the AU’s impact on safeguarding the rights of historically marginalized Africans, including queer Africans, incarcerated Africans and displaced Africans.
Beyond the AU: how are Africans both on the continent and across the diaspora organizing and (re-)imagining pan-Africanism outside the AU?

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Call for Submissions – Vol. 7, No. 3

Deadline: 23 July 2023