1. Introduction of the course

2. Introduction: State, Civil Society ad External Interests (Chapter 1)

3. History: Africa’s Pre-Colonial and Colonial Heritage (Chapter 2)

4. Ideology: Nationalism, Socialism, Popularism and State Capitalism (Chapter 3)

5. Ethnicity and Religion: ‘Tribes’, Gods ad Political Identity (Chapter 4)

6. Movie: Hotel Rwanda

7. Social Class: The Search for Class Politics in Africa (Chapter 5)

8. Legitimacy: Neo-Patrimonialism, Personal Rule and the Centralization of African State (Chapter 6)

9. Midterm Examination

10. Coercion: Military Intervention in African Politics (Chapter 7)

11. Sovereignty I: External Influences on African Politics (Chapter 8)

12. Sovereignty II: Neo-Colonialism, Structural Adjustment and African Political Economy (Chapter 9)

13. Authority: The Crises of Accumulation, Governance and State Collapse (Chapter 10)

14. Democracy: Re-Legitimizing the African State? (Chapter 11)

15. Hybrid Regimes: 'Africa Rising', Stalled Transitions or Something In-between (Chapter 12)

16. Final Examination

For undergraduate students, midterm exam and final exam each account for 35% of the total grade.  A country study project accounts for 15% of the grade.  Class participation accounts for the remaining 15% of the grade as students will have to answer questions in the class. 

For graduate students, midterm exam and final exam each account for 30% of the total grade.  The final report constitutes 20% and a country study project accounts for 10% of the grade.  Class participation accounts for the remaining 10% of the grade as students will have to answer questions in the class. 

There is also a map test that requires a student to identify/locate all African countries on the map.  A student needs to pass the map test before receiving the final grade.  He/she can take this test as many times as needed.  Objective questions such as matching, true & false, multiple choices, as well as short and long essay questions will be included to accommodate individual student's particular strength in comprehension. 

The country study project requires each student to collect the following information of one African country (if possible, 2024/2025, or the latest):

1. Name of the Country (both English and Chinese; Chinese Name Used in Both Taiwan and Mainland China)

2. Name of the People (English)

3. Colonial Power(s)

4. Name of the Country during Colonial Time

5. Date of Independence

6. Capital(s) (English and Chinese; Chinese Name Used in both Taiwan and Mainland China)

7. Official Language(s)

8. Head of State and Head of Government

9. Presidential Terms (including changes since 1990)

10. Military Coups (Frequency and Time of Occurrence)

11. Most Recent and Next Presidential and Parliamentary Elections and the Results of the former.

12. Corruption Perception Index (Score) (Ranking in the World) (Transparency International)

13. Democracy Index (Score) (Ranking in the World) (Full Democracy, Flawed

Democracy, Hybrid Regime, Authoritarian Regime) (Economist Intelligence Unit)

14. Economic Freedom Index (Score) (Ranking in the World) (Free, Mostly Free, Moderately Free, Mostly Unfree, Repressed) (The Heritage Foundation)

15. Fragile States Index (Score) (Ranking in the World) (Very High Alert, High

Alert, Alert, High Warning, Elevated Warning, Warning, Stable, More Stable,

Stable, Sustainable, Very Sustainable, Data Unavailable) (The Fund for Peace/Foreign Policy)

16. Freedom in the World Index (Political Rights, Civil Liberties, Points) (Free,

Partly Free, Not Free) (Freedom House)

17. Global Peace Index (Score) (Ranking in the World) (Institute for Economics & Peace)

18. Global Terrorism Index (Score) (Ranking in the World) (The Impact of Terrorism: Very High, High, Medium, Low, Very Low, No Impact, Not Included) (Institute for Economics & Peace)

19. Human Development Index (Overall Score) (Life Expectancy, Mean Years of Schooling, and GNI Per Capita) (United Nations)

20. Human Freedom Index (Overall score) (Personal Freedom Score, Economic Freedom Score, Ranking in the World) (Cato Institute)

21. Ibrahim Index of African Governance (Score) (Ranking in Africa) (Mo Ibrahim Foundation)

22. Legatum Prosperity Index (Ranking in the World) (Ranking in Africa) (Legatum Institute)

23. Press Freedom Index (Global Score) (Ranking in the World) (Categories: Good, Fairly Good, Problematic, Very Bad) (Reporters without Borders)

24. Rule of Law Index (Score) (Ranking in the World) (Ranking in Africa) (World Justice Project)

25. Transformation Index (Values of Political Transformation, Economic

Transformation and Governance) (Ranking in the World in Each Three) (Bertelsmann Stiftung)

The final report for the graduate student should be made on a review of one thematic chapter of Goran Hyden’s book with the length of around 10-12 double-space pages and font of size 14 (either in Georgia or Times New Roman).

Alex Thomson, An Introduction to African Politics, 5^th Edition.  London and New York: Routledge, 2023.

Goran Hyden, African Politics in Comparative Perspective, 2^nd edition.  New York: Cambridge University Press, 2013.  (For graduate students only)