Beyond the Gatekeeper State explores the dynamic changes occurring within and between African states, and the international system since the turn of the century. Frederick Cooper's model of 'gatekeeper states' - shaped as much by their international links as by their domestic practices - provides the basis for the contributors' thinking about international relations in Africa and the wider international system. The chapters explore the political implications of Africa's new relations with the old super-powers, former colonial powers, and the emerging powers from the South. These new relationships reflect and affect changing technology, infrastructure, and resource flows within and between African states. Drawing on both rich empirical cases and theoretical approaches, the book interrogates the implications of these changes on how we think about states and state systems. Exploring the impact of changing technology, finance, and resources on African politics, Beyond the Gatekeeper State will be of great interest to scholars of African Politics and International Relations (IR), as well as African Studies, IR, and the politics of the Global South more broadly. This book was originally published as a special issue of Third World Thematics.

Zimbabwe's recent history has been shaped by battles about who speaks for the nation, one fought out in struggles for control of political institutions, the media, and civil society. In her book Sara Rich Dorman examines the interactions of social groups - churches, NGOs, and political parties - from the liberation struggle, through the independence decades, as they engaged the state and ruling party. Her empirically rich account reveals how strategies of control and co-option were replicated and resisted, shaping expectations and behaviour. Dorman tracks how the relationship between Mugabe's ruling party and activists was determined by the liberation struggle, explaining how electoral machinery, the judiciary, and other institutions of state control ensured ZANU-PF hegemony, even as other forces in Zimbabwean society demanded accountability and representation.This is a story of ambiguity and complexity in which the state and civil society mimic and learn from each other. We learn how both structural and direct violence are deployed by the regime, but also how ad-hoc and unplanned many of their interventions really were.Even as the liberation war generation reluctantly exits the Zimbabwean political stage, their influence continues to shape interaction between citizens and the state.