Constanze Blum Editor

Constanze Blum is a post-doctoral researcher at the Research Institute Social Cohesion (RISC) at Leipzig University (Germany). Her research focuses on the diverse and competing understandings of social cohesion in Southern and East Africa, as well as their transnational entanglements. She also works on the African Union, particularly the organization’s external partnerships and practices in international development cooperation.

Ulf Engel is professor of politics in Africa at the Institute of African Studies, Leipzig University (Germany). He is also a visiting professor at the Institute for Peace and Security Studies at Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia) and professor extraordinary at the Department of Political Science at Stellenbosch University (South Africa). Since 2006, he has advised the African Union Department of Political Affairs, Peace and Security in the fields of conflict prevention, early warning, preventive diplomacy, and knowledge management.

Christi van der Westhuizen is professor of sociology at the University of the Western Cape (South Africa). She is also a former visiting professor at the Research Centre Global Dynamics (ReCentGlobe) and the Institute of African Studies, both at Leipzig University (Germany). As a transdisciplinary scholar and political analyst, she writes both academically and popularly on ideology, identity, and difference, with a focus on colonial, apartheid, and post-apartheid South Africa.