Beyond the Coloniality of Internationalism: Reworlding the World from the Global South

Deploying a decolonial epistemic perspective to reflect on a terminally ill international system besieged by numerous crises, Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni makes a strong case for reworlding the world from the global South in general and global Africa in particular. Taking the Russia-Ukraine War as a crisis that portends a change of the present world order, he projects an emerging planetary pluriversal future. Challenging mainstream theories of internationalism, the book highlights anti-imperial struggles and decolonial praxes of reconstituting and remaking the world after neoliberal imperial internationalism.

“That the post-1945 global multilateral system is in crisis is no longer in dispute. What is at issue is the question of how best to transcend its many discontents and build a qualitatively new order. Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni argues vigorously, and with ample historical references, that what is called for is a root and branch dismantling of the moribund order and its replacement with a new one that draws from the rich decolonial, anti-imperialist, anti-patriarchal, and human-centred heritage that is rooted in the history of struggles in the global South. Students of contemporary world affairs will find much in this book that is at once enlightening and challenging. For practitioners, the book will reshape their thinking about the scope and options for change required for the birth of a new world order.” – Adebayo Olukoshi, Distinguished Professor, Wits School of Governance, South Africa

 “Once upon a time global events were narrated by local narrators placed in their own North Atlantic perceptions. No longer. The Russian special operation in Ukraine that triggered Beyond the Coloniality of Internationalism is a case in point. It is narrated from also at once from the Global South and the Global East. The closing of North Atlantic hegemony is manifested in the closing of unilateral narratives and unipolar international relations. This book is a magnificent antidote to what Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, encapsulated in a mighty single sentence: the danger of a single story. Additionally, this refreshing narrative and analysis shows us that the power of the singles stories was and still is a story of modernity of internationalism. This book turns the pages around: Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni unveils the colonial stories of unipolar internationalism. By doing so, the book reminds us of another sign of the change of era: decolonial thinking and being in the world, rewording the world, is not an academic question, it is about life. Knowing to live rather than living to know.” Walter D. Mignolo, William Hane Wannamaker Distinguished Professor of Romance Studies, Duke University

 “Professor Sabelo J Ndlovu-Gatsheni’s powerful book draws from the Ukraine war to provide an anti-colonial interpretation of international relations. He argues that the West’s attempt to maintain its domination is futile, and that the forces of decolonisation will prevail in the building of a genuine multilateral world order.” Professor Vijay Prashad, Director, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research

 “In a world wracked again with war and despair, what does a decolonial ethos have to contribute? It puts forward a deliberate anti-imperial ethos. An ethos against conquest. And it crafts this ethos with a cosmopolitan intent. Finally, we are all one and united in vulnerability, but also the right to live in peace. Sabelo J.  Ndlovu-Gatsheni examines the thought of both Olaf Palme and Nelson Mandela and, in this new book, crafts a powerful message of deliverance and peace.”-Stephen Chan, Professor of World Politics, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London

 “From the so-called Russia-Ukraine War, through the Middle East “theatre of wars” to the decolonize projects, Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni takes this complex scenario and repaints the canvas vividly from the right side, revisiting history, critiquing paradigms, and, most importantly, offering prospects for an alternative approach. This comprehensive analysis is a must-read for scholars of international relations, human rights, decolonial studies, peace studies, and just about anyone who needs a diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment plan for our world order.”  –Akosua Adomako Ampofo, Professor of African and Gender Studies, Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana

 “In this book Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni undertakes a breath-taking task of synthesis, bringing together into conversation Marxism (especially in its Leninist incarnation), the Black Radical Tradition and decolonial perspectives into an analysis of the continuing “coloniality of international” power relations. He uses the current Russia-Ukraine war to cast a fresh glance at the entire project of colonialism and imperialism and its operation today in terms of the “Cold War” that continues long after its official end. At one level, an intervention in the area of international relations, the book is much more – and as the subtitle suggests, concerned quite centrally with the “reworlding of the word from the Global South.” This reworlding, Ndlovu-Gatsheni argues, can only be possible by mining repressed knowledges, exploring paths never taken and imagining possibilities considered unimaginable – a task that is in the first place epistemological and involves what he calls “rethinking and unthinking from the crevices, ashes and ruins left by dying Euro North American modernity and its colonialities.” His is an optimistic project whose optimism derives from the recognition that colonialism, imperialism and the Cold War are not merely economic and political structures that apparently exist independently of the players involved but are put in place through the massive apparatus of Euro-American knowledge, demolishing which is the key task of decolonial theory and practice.”—Aditya Nigam, Professor at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies, Delhi, India

“This is a book that is as politically enticing as it is beautifully conceived and written with the force to inspire us never to look away from the horrors whilst providing the ink of hope and the power to collectively change said state of things. Ndlovu- Gatsheni’s book is a political toolbox, as much as it is a spiritual canvas, and a historical map for all of us who refuse to believe that no other world is possible. “Beyond coloniality of internationalism Reworlding the World from the Global South” synthesizes and harmonically deploys the major schools of thought and action involved in thinking the political crises of our times (ecological, political, racial, capitalist, patriarchal) and through the understanding and practice that the centre of coloniality of power is encrypted power it creates the conditions to de-think and rethink them anew.” Ricardo Sanin-Restrepo, author of Decolonizing Democracy

“Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni calls for a root and branch dismantling of the moribund order and its replacement with a new one that draws from the rich decolonial, anti-imperialist, anti-patriarchal, and human-centred heritage that is rooted in the history of struggles in the global South.”- Adebayo Olukoshi, Distinguished Professor, Wits School of Governance, South Africa

 “This book is a magnificent antidote to what Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, encapsulated in a mighty single sentence: the danger of a single story. By doing so, the book reminds us of another sign of the change of era: decolonial thinking and being in the world, rewording the world, is not an academic question, it is about life. Knowing to live rather than living to know.” Walter D. Mignolo, William Wannamaker Distinguished Professor, Duke University

“Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni’s powerful book draws from the Ukraine war to provide an anti-colonial interpretation of international relations.” Vijay Prashad, Professor & Director, Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research

“Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni crafts a powerful message of deliverance and peace.”-Stephen Chan, Professor of World Politics, SOAS, University of London

“Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni repaints the canvas vividly from the right side, revisiting history, critiquing paradigms, and, most importantly, offering prospects for an alternative approach.” –Akosua Adomako Ampofo, Professor of African & Gender Studies, University of Ghana

 “Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni undertakes a breath-taking task of synthesis, bringing together into conversation Marxism, the Black Radical Tradition and decolonial perspectives into an analysis of the continuing coloniality of international power relations.” Aditya Nigam, Professor at the Centre for Developing Societies, Delhi

 “Ndlovu- Gatsheni’s book is a political toolbox, as much as it is a spiritual canvas, and a historical map for all of us who refuse to believe that no other world is possible.” Ricardo Sanin-Restrepo, Professor of Legal and Political Theory, Universidad Javeriana