This book studies the history and inner workings of the African Union Border Programme (AUBP) and its partnership with Germany. Based on extensive empirical research, it sheds light onto the relations between the African Union (AU) and the German development agency Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ), the day-to-day interactions and dynamics within this key AU programme in the field of peace and security and outlines contemporary border-making practices on the continent. Challenging conventional and eurocentric approaches to making sense of North-South partnerships and the AU as a central regional organisation in the Global South, Constanze Blum highlights the agency of African actors in collaborative programmes as well as the multi-directionality of institutional partnerships. Against the backdrop of the increasing importance of North-South collaborations, the findings on the inner life of the AUBP provide a deeper understanding of the intricacies and complexities of AU programmes and external partnerships. 

This book will be of key interest to students and scholars of International and Regional Organisations, African Politics, Governance, Peace and Security Studies as well as International Relations and Development Studies more broadly. 

Constanze Blum is a researcher at the Research Centre Global Dynamics (ReCentGlobe) at Leipzig University, Germany.