This entry argues that African peoples and states have exercised their agency towards others in their foreign affairs across space and time. African agency was evident in the resistance to European colonialism in the nineteenth century and in the defeat of colonialism after World War II. In the independence era, African agency has taken different forms across a succession of different contexts. During the Cold War, African leaders chose either superpower alignment or genuine non-alignment. Contra mainstream scholarship, African states even displayed a certain autonomy during their negotiations over structural adjustment. In more recent decades, African leaders and peoples have changed continental norms, forged new visions, and differed over the value of the rules-based world order. African agency has been equally apparent in both collaborative projects and contests for power.
