This book explores relations between states in the Africa-European Union relationship in view of the African Continental Free Trade Area, both at a regional level and as a series of informal processes of socioeconomic and political interactions between state and non-state actors.

The book reconsiders the ways in which actors in the Africa-European Union relationship function, and what that means for regionalism, regionalisation, and regional integration. In addition to formalised state-to-state and inter-regional interactions, the book examines the impact of socioeconomic and political interactions with non-state actors, including those who engage with regional integration through formal and informal processes such as civil society activitists, "African migration evangelists", human smugglers and human traffickers. The book thus demonstrates that regional and inter-regional engagements include issues that extend beyond the usual discussions of trade.

The book is authored from an African perspective and will be of interest to academics who specialise in International Relations, Political Economy, Political Sociology and African Studies. Policy makers and various actors in civil society and think tanks who have an academic inclination and deal with trade, migration, and regionalism in Africa and Africa's relations with Europe will also find the book beneficial.

Samuel Ojo Oloruntoba is an Adjunct Research Professor at the Institute of African Studies, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and Honorary Professor at the Thabo Mbeki School of Public and International Affairs, University of South Africa. He obtained PhD in Political Science from the University of Lagos, Nigeria. He was previously a Visiting Scholar at the Program of African Studies, Northwestern University, Evanston and fellow of Brown International Advanced Research Institute, Brown University, Rhode Island, United States of America. Oloruntoba is the author, editor and co-editor of several books including Regionalism and Integration in Africa: EU-ACP Economic Partnership Agreements and Euro-Nigeria Relations, Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2016 and co-editor with Toyin Falola of the Palgrave Handbook of Africa and the Changing Global Orde, 2022, among others. His research interests are in Regional Integration, Migration, Democracy and Development, Global Governance of Trade and Finance, Politics of Natural Resources Governance and EU-African Relations. He is also a member of the African Knowledge Network, Office of Special Adviser on Africa UN Under Secretary-General, United Nations, New York.

Christopher Changwe Nshimbi is SARChI (South African Research Chairs Initiative) Research Chair in the Political Economy of Migration in the SADC Region and Associate Professor in the Department of Political Sciences at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. His research focuses on migration, borders, regional integration, the informal economy, and water governance. He sits in on regional and international technical working groups on trade, labour, migration and water governance. He is also a member of the Platform for African European Studies (PAES) *** ORCID: 0000-0001-6245-4233

Leon Mwamba Tshimpaka is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Institute for Strategic and Political Affairs and the SARChI Research Chair in the Political Economy of Migration in the SADC Region in the Department of Political Sciences of the University of Pretoria, South Africa. He is also an Adjunct Professor in the School of Liberal Arts and Humanities at Woxsen University, India and a Visiting Scholar at Ku Leuven, Belgium and Luxembourg University, Luxembourg. Dr Tshimpaka's research includes Regional Integration in SADC and BRICS, EU-Africa Relations, Migration, Political Transnationalism of African migrants, Civil Society and Consolidation of Democracy in Africa, Anti-corruption Initiatives, and Sustainable Development in Africa. He obtained a PhD in Political Science from the University of Pretoria, South Africa and an MA in Development Studies from the University of South Africa, South Africa. Dr. Tshimpaka is a co-author of Regional Economic Communities and Integration in Southern Africa: Networks of Civil Society Organizations and Alternative Regionalism, published by Springer Nature in 2021, as well as the author of book chapters and journal articles. He is also an expert on European Studies and a member of the Platform for African European Studies (PAES). *** ORCID: 0000-0001-7097-3244