The international statehood: An Africanist perspective in contemporary times

The dominant discourse on the emergence and evolution of international law and statehood has often placed great emphasis on their European origins, with European states as the exclusive and active players in this evolution. The African dimension in the context of how indigenous African states participated in the evolution and emergence of international law and statehood before the advent of European colonialism is often overlooked. The main objective of this paper is to introduce an Africanist perspective into this discourse in contemporary times. An additional objective is to demonstrate that although Eurocentric scholars tend to argue that before the colonial encounter, there were no pre-existing states, to the contrary, several kingdoms across Africa were notably demonstrating strong attributes of statehood in the indigenous African context. The methodologies utilised in this paper are historical analysis and doctrinal analysis. The paper finds that before the colonial encounter, Africans engaged with international law through commerce, treaty-making, alliances with foreigners and diplomatic relations among several other ways. It is also the findings of this paper that the current legal status of statehood in international law reflects both continuity and change, sometimes based on politics. This paper contributes to knowledge by demonstrating that contemporary scholarship on the origin and evolution of international law and statehood ought to reflect this historical and contemporary African legal reality. It recommends a deliberate incorporation of African perspectives into contemporary notions of statehood and international law.