This timely collection coincides with both a period of reflection on the implications of the recent global COVID pandemic and the important resurgence of African perspectives on global issues. The editors draw from a diverse range of academics and policy makers to focus on how pandemics in general and COVID in particular affected how various state actors responded to and took advantage of the challenges that public health crises posed. Contributors cover specific case studies across the continent, from Nigeria to Namibia and Zimbabwe, as well as the wider dimensions of American and Chinese responses to the pandemic as they affected the African continent. Each chapter is grounded in political theories related to security studies and treats the centrality of public health crises to state security and people’s well-being. Given the diversity of approaches, readers may find it hard to compare the case studies. The collection is, nevertheless, useful for gaining a better understanding of African views on the pandemic and includes important voices that hitherto have not always been valued. Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty.

Choice Reviews

I highly recommend this book as it provides a novel exploration of how the COVID-19 pandemic could be understood in terms of the theories and concepts relating to our evolving understanding of threats to international relations, national security, human security and civil-military relations through an African perspective. The value of the book is in the contextualization of international relations theory, the human security paradigm, and securitization within African case studies. It also includes useful analyses of how threats to peace and security could be expanded to include epidemics and pandemics.
This book provides readers with original insights into the developments in the current debates relating to African security and will be of particularly great use to students of political science, security studies, military history, civil-military relations, and military sociology.

Laetitia Olivier, Stellenbosch University