This volume addresses two primary research concerns: first, considering extraversion (or extroversion) as a term for characterizing a region that is "mobilizing resources from their (possibly unequal) relationship with the external environment", a dynamic that constitutes a possible African potential; and, second, a survey of competing systems and strategies with a focus on relationships between formal and informal institutions in terms of their collaborations and conflicts. In addition, this volume contains three chapters examining very recent African responses to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic from a variety of perspectives. The final part of this volume contains an important contribution to the conceptualization of 'African Potentials'. This has proven to be a significant conceptual innovation, that allows intellectual access to alternative ways of thinking about latent ideas of universality.
Mitsugi Endo (DPhil) is Professor of Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Tokyo, Japan. He is also chair of the Graduate Program on Human Security at the Graduate School. He specialised in comparative politics and international relations, recently focusing on the Greater Horn of Africa.
Michael Neocosmos is Emeritus Professor in Humanities at Rhodes University in South Africa and Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the University of Connecticut Humanities Institute in the United States.
Ato Kwamena Onoma is a Senior Programme Officer at the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA).