Publisher's Synopsis
The proliferation of non-state actors in international politics reveals much about the complexity of international relations and the inextricable link between domestic and international political activity. African Americans have a historic legacy of such transnational activity that is both a function of surviving more than 350 years of constitutionally sanctioned slavery and discrimination, a struggle to obtain the human rights and the political power to influence US foreign policy. - - Black Globalism: The International Politics of A Non-State Nation, examines the international political behaviour of African-Americans. From the slave revolts of Denmark Vesey and Nat Turner, to the influence of the Congressional Black Caucus on US foreign policy, the author examines the impact of the domestic racial environment on the international interests and activities of African-Americans. Black Globalism uses three levels of analysis to describe the dimensions of this international activity. At the individual level, the emigration debate which included Frederick Douglass, David Walker, Benjamin Russworm, Paul Cufee, Martin Delany is considered. Here, the emigration efforts of Chief Alfred Sam, Bishop Henry Turner and Marcus Garvey are examined. The influence of scholar and activist W.E.B DuBois and the leadership Malcolm X is examined with respect to their ideological impact on the transnational political activity on organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, the Nation of Islam and the Black Panther Party. From the 1869 appointment of Ebenezer Bassett as the first US Minister to Haiti, the 1976 appointment of Andrew Young to the US Ambassador to the United Nations, the impact of African Americans on US foreign policy decision making is examined. This includes the Congressional Black CaucusÆ influence on President ClintonÆs humanitarian intervention in Haiti. This government level analysis includes an examination of the history and politics of desegregating the US Department of State. Finally, the relative economic status of African-Americans in the domestic and global economic system is considered with respect to the shrinking of the welfare state and the challenges of the post-cold war global economy.
