This is the first edition of the Yearbook on the African Union. It is first and foremost an academic project that will provide an in-depth evaluation and analysis of the institution, its processes, and its engagements. Despite the increased agency in recent years of the African Union in general, and the AU Commission in particular, little is known – outside expert policy or niche academic circles – about the Union’s activities. This is the gap the Yearbook on the African Union wants to systematically bridge. It seeks to be a reference point for in-depth research, evidence-based policy-making and decision-making.
Contributors are: Adekeye Adebajo, Habibu Yaya Bappah, Bruce Byiers, Annie Barbara Hazviyemurwi Chikwanha, Dawit Yohannes Wondemagegnehu, Katharina P.W. Döring, Jens Herpolsheimer, Jacob Lisakafu, Frank Mattheis, Henning Melber, Alphonse Muleefu, John N. Nkengasong, Edefe Ojomo, Awino Okech, Jamie Pring, Elizabeth Sidiropoulos, Tim Zajontz.
Ulf Engel is Professor of ‘Politics in Africa’ at Leipzig University. He is also a Visiting Professor at the Institute for Peace and Security Studies at Addis Ababa University and the Department of Political Science at Stellenbosch University.
Foreword
Acknowledgements
List of Figure and Tables
List of Acronyms
Notes on Contributors
1 Introduction
Ulf Engel
PART 1: The Year-in-Review
2 The Annual Interview: The Covid-19 Pandemic
John N. Nkengasong
3 The State of the Union
Ulf Engel
4 South Africa’s Chairmanship of the African Union
Elizabeth Sidiropoulos
PART 2: African Union Policy Fields
5 Development
Henning Melber
6 Education, Science, and Technology
Ulf Engel
7 Governance
Annie Barbara Hazviyemurwi Chikwanha
8 Health
Edefe Ojomo and Habibu Yaya Bappah
9 Infrastructure
Tim Zajontz
10 Peace and Security
Dawit Yohannes Wondemagegnehu
11 Trade and Regional Integration
Katharina P.W. Döring and Ulf Engel
12 Strategic Partnerships
Adekeye Adebajo
13 Women and Youth
Awino Okech
PART 3: Book Reviews
New Publications on Continental Matters
Book review editors: Katharina P.W. Döring and Jens Herpolsheimer
PART 4: Appendices
Appendix 1: Chronicle of Key
AU
Events, 2020
Appendix 2: Inventory of
AU
decisions, 2020
Appendix 3: Key
AU
Office Holders, 2020
Index
The book appeals to post-graduate students, scholars and researchers in policy-oriented research circles, so-called practitioners and experts, journalists as well as international organisations’ and non-governmental organisations’ staff, diplomats and policymakers.