Paper short abstract:

Approaching the encounter of Africa and the European International Society requires a interdisciplinary perspective that crosses the boundaries of History and International Relations.

Paper long abstract:

International Relations and African History are two fields of study that can be enriched by cross-fertilization. Debates in IR about the expansion of the European international society overseas (namely Africa), about its transformation into a world society, and more specifically about structure and agency in this process, have much to gain from taking into consideration the African history of the last century.

The English School is one school of thought in IR that has been characterized by its emphasis in history, and that has worked on the recent transformation of the international as a consequence of imperialism and decolonization. Nevertheless, much work can still be done as nowadays some of its classical accounts can be understood as top-down, with a strong Eurocentric perspective, and as such reproducing the image of Africa as in the margins of the international society.

Focusing in Ethiopian history and in the process by which this state came to be a part of the international society, and highlighting Ethiopian agency, I would like to contribute to these debates on the expansion of international society as much as to the panel's objective of reconstructing the impact of African history inside and outside the continent.