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Andrews Nathan, Associate Professor

photo of Nathan Andrews

Nathan Andrews

Associate Professor

Faculty
Department of Political Science

Area(s) of Interest:

Biography

Nathan Andrews joined the Department of Political Science at McMaster University as an Associate Professor of International Relations in January 2022. Prior to joining McMaster, he was an Associate Professor of Global and International Studies at the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC). At UNBC, he received the prestigious University Excellence in Research Award (2019) and was nominated for the University Excellence in Teaching Award (2020). Dr. Andrews attained his Ph.D. in Political Science (International Relations and Comparative Development) from the University of Alberta where his research was supported by both the Vanier and Trudeau doctoral scholarships. This was followed by a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship at Queen’s University between 2015 and 2017. In 2020, he received a Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship which facilitated his visit to the University of KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa) in 2021 to engage in collaborative research and graduate student mentorship.

Dr. Andrews’ research program primary focuses on the international political economy of resource extraction, global governance and development. He is also interested in critical international relations and critical pedagogy, particularly questions around epistemic oppression, academic dependency and decolonization in higher education. His work on these themes of research/teaching interest is covered in over 30 peer-reviewed articles published in leading journals such asInternational Affairs, World Development, Third World Quarterly, Energy Research & Social Science, Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, Resources Policy, Journal of International Relations & Development, Business & Society Review, and Africa Today among others.

Dr. Andrews has also published seven books (both edited volumes and monographs) and over 15 book chapters. His latest books include Gold Mining and the Discourses of Corporate Social Responsibility in Ghana (Palgrave, 2019), Corporate Social Responsibility and Canada’s Role in Africa’s Extractive Sectors (edited with Andrew Grant, University of Toronto Press, 2020), The Transnational Land Rush in Africa: A Decade After the Spike (edited with Logan Cochrane, Palgrave, 2021) and Oil and Development in Ghana: Beyond the Resource Curse (with Pius Siakwah, Routledge, 2021).

As part of his public intellectualism, Dr. Andrews has contributed to discussions on CBC Radio, Global News and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah as well as many community-based initiatives. He has also consulted for international organizations such as African Development Bank, the Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Education

Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship, Queen's University, 2017

Ph.D., University of Alberta, 2015

Executive Certificate in Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy & Management, McGill University, 2013

MA, Brock University, 2010 

BA (Honours), University of Ghana, 2006 

 

 

Teaching

Undergraduate Teaching

POLSCI 2H03: Globalization and the State (McMaster)

INTS 210: Globalizations (UNBC)

INTS 304/GEOG 306: Critical International Development (UNBC)

POLS 396: Topics in International Relations (Queen's)

POLS 461: International Regimes (Queen's)

INTS 490: Global Capstone (UNBC)

 

Graduate Teaching

POLSCI/GLOBALST 774: Global Political Economy (McMaster)

INTS 700: Research Methods in Global Studies (UNBC)

INTS 702: Graduate Colloquia (UNBC)

INTS 699: Independent Study–Global Land Grabs (UNBC)

INTS 498/698: International Regimes (UNBC)

INTS 421/621: Political Economy/Ecology of Resource Extraction (UNBC)

 

Research

RECENT RESEARCH GRANTS

Principal Investigator Role

  1. SSHRC Insight Grant ~$291,579 (2021-2026): Meaningful Stakeholder Engagement in Resource-Rich Communities: Comparative Cases from the Global South and High North (with M. Stoddart & P. Haslam as Co-Is and I. Ayanu-Odumosu, K. Buhmann, R. Maher, P. Simons, A.H. Skjervedal, A.Johnson, N. Yáñez as collaborators).
  2. SSHRC Connection Grant ~$19,810 (2021-2022): Extractive Bargains: States, Natural Resources and the (Elusive) Search for Consensus (with P. Bowles).
  3. SSHRC Insight Development Grant ~$71,552 (2018-2020): Converging Pressures and Slippery Livelihoods: The Dynamics of Oil Extraction, Fisheries, Community Wellbeing and Ocean Governance in Ghana and Mexico (with N. Bennett, N. Gray and R. Sumaila).
  4. SSHRC Connection Grant ~$13,950 (2016-2017): Corporate Social Responsibility, Governance Frameworks, and Human Security: Examining Canada's Role in Africa's Natural Resource Sectors (with J.A. Grant). 

Co-Investigator Role

  1. SSHRC Connection Grant ~24,574 (2022-2023): Stakeholder Consultation Regimes in Comparative Perspective (with P. Haslam as PI and I. Ayanu-Odumosu, M. Stoddart & K. Buhmann as Co-Is).
  2. SSHRC Insight Development Grant ~$67,330 (2019-2021): The Global Land Rush, Inequalities and Livelihoods: Enabling Environments for Strengthening Food Security in Ethiopia and Ghana (with L. Cochrane as PI).
  3. SSHRC Connection Grant ~$15,513 (2017-2018): Mobilizing Canadian Knowledge on Natural Resource-Based Development in Africa (with J.S. Ovadia as PI and J.A. Grant). 

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Books (peer-reviewed monographs & edited volumes)

  1. Andrews, Nathan, J. Andrew Grant and Jesse Salah Ovadia eds. (2022). Natural-Resource Based Development in Africa: Panacea or Pandora’s Box? University of Toronto Press (in print).
  2. Logan, Cochrane and Nathan Andrews eds. (2021). The Transnational Land Rush in Africa: A Decade After the Spike Palgrave Macmillan.
  3. Andrews, Nathan and Pius Siakwah (2021). Oil and Development in Ghana: Beyond the Resource Curse. Routledge.
  4. Andrews, Nathan and J. Andrew Grant eds. (2020). Corporate Social Responsibility and Canada’s Role in Africa’s Extractive Sectors. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
  5. Andrews, Nathan (2019). Gold Mining and the Discourses of Corporate Social Responsibility in Ghana. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
  6. Andrews, Nathan, N. Ernest Khalema, and N’Dri T. Assie-Lumumba eds. (2015). Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Retrospect: Africa’s Development Beyond 2015. Springer.

Journal Articles (peer-reviewed)

  1.  Andrews, Nathan. (2021). “Oil, Social Differentiation and the Politics of Scale: A Political Ecology of Hydrocarbon Extraction in Ghana.” Journal of Political Ecology Vol. 28(1): 358-375.
  2. Andrews, Nathan. (2021). “Corporate Social Responsibility as Sensemaking and Sensegiving in a Hydrocarbon Industry.” Business & Society Review Vol. 126(2): 211-234.
  3. Andrews, Nathan, Nathan Bennett, Philippe Le Billon, Andrés Cisneros-Montemayor, Sandra Amongin, Stephanie Green, Noella Gray and Rashid Sumaila. (2021). “Oil, Fisheries and Coastal Communities: A Review of Impacts on the Environment, Livelihoods, Spaces and Governance,” Energy Research and Social Science Vol. 75: 102009.
  4. Andrews, Nathan and Marcellinus Essah (2020). “The Sustainable Development Conundrum in Gold Mining: Exploring ‘Open, Prior and Independent Deliberate Discussion’ as a Community-Centered Framework.” Resources Policy Vol. 68: 101798.
  5. Oppong, Nelson and Nathan Andrews (2020). “Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and the Politics of Institutional Innovation in Ghana’s Oil Industry.” The Extractive Industries and Society Vol. 7(4): 1238-1245.
  6. Enns, Charis, Nathan Andrews and J. Andrew Grant (2020). “Security for Whom? Analyzing Hybrid Security Governance in Africa’s Extractive Sectors.” International Affairs Vol. 96(4): 995-1013.
  7. Andrews, Nathan and Eyene Okpanachi (2020). “Depoliticization and Ahistoricism of Transparency and Accountability via Global Norms: Assessing the EITI in Ghana and Nigeria.” Commonwealth and Comparative Politics Vol. 58 (2): 228-249.
  8. Osei-Kojo, Alex and Nathan Andrews (2020). “A Developmental Paradox? The ‘Dark Forces’ against Corporate Social Responsibility in Ghana’s Extractive Industry.” Environment, Development and Sustainability Vol. 22: 1051-1071.
  9. Graham, Emmanuel, Ransford E.V. Gyampo, Ishmael Ackah and Nathan Andrews (2019). “An Institutional Assessment of Five Years of the Public Interest Accountability Committee in Ghana’s Oil and Gas Sector.” Journal of Contemporary African Studies Vol. 37 (4): 316-334.
  10. Bennett, Nathan J.,Andres M. Cisneros-Montemayor, Jessica Blythe, Jennifer J. Silver, Gerald Singh and Nathan Andrews et al. (2019). “Towards a sustainable and equitable blue economy.” Nature Sustainability Vol. 2: 991-993.
  11. Andrews, Nathan (2019). “Normative Spaces and the UN Global Compact for Transnational Corporations: The Norm Diffusion Paradox.” Journal of International Relations & Development Vol. 22(1): 77-106.
  12. Andrews, Nathan (2018). “Land versus Livelihoods: Community Perspectives on Dispossession and Marginalization in Ghana’s Mining Sector.” Resources Policy Vol. 58: 240-249.
  13. Andrews, Nathan and Chilenye Nwapi (2018). “Bringing the State Back in Again? The Emerging Developmental State in Africa’s Energy Sector.” Energy Research & Social Science Vol. 41: 48-58.
  14. Nwapi, Chilenye and Nathan Andrews (2017). “A ‘New’ Developmental State in Africa? Evaluating Recent State Interventions vis-à-vis Resource Extraction in Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda.” McGill Journal of Sustainable Development Law Vol. 13(2): 223-267.
  15. Osei-Kojo, Alex and Nathan Andrews (2016). “Questioning the Status Quo: Can Stakeholder Participation Improve Implementation of Small-Scale Mining Laws in Ghana?” Resources Vol. 5(4): 1-16.   
  16. Essah, Marcellinus and Nathan Andrews (2016). “Linking or De-Linking Sustainable Mining Practices and Corporate Social Responsibility? Insights from Ghana.” Resources Policy Vol. 50: 75-85.
  17. Sovacool, Benjamin K., Gotz Walter, Thijs Van de Graaf and Nathan Andrews (2016). “Energy Governance, Transnational Rules, and the Resource Curse: Exploring the Effectiveness of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).” World Development Vol. 86: 179-192.
  18. Andrews, Nathan (2016). “A Swiss-Army Knife? A Critical Assessment of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in Ghana.” Business and Society Review Vol. 121 (1): 59-83.
  19. Andrews, Nathan (2016). “Challenges of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Domestic Settings: An Exploration of Mining Regulation vis-à-vis CSR in Ghana.” Resources Policy Vol. 47: 9-17.
  20. Andrews, Nathan (2015). “Digging for Survival and/or Justice? The Drivers of Illegal Mining Activities in Western Ghana.” Africa Today Vol. 62 (2): 3-24.
  21. Sovacool, Benjamin K. and Nathan Andrews (2015). “Does Transparency Matter? Evaluating the Governance Impacts of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in Azerbaijan and Liberia.” Resources Policy Vol. 45: 183-192.
  22. Andrews, Nathan and Sylvia Bawa (2014). “A Post-Development Hoax? (Re)-Examining the Past, Present and Future of Development Studies.” Third World Quarterly Vol. 35 (6): 922-938.
  23. Andrews, Nathan (2013). “Community Expectations from Ghana’s New Oil Find: Conceptualizing Corporate Social Responsibility as a Grassroots-Oriented Process.” Africa Today Vol. 60 (1):54-75.
  24. Okpanachi, Eyene and Nathan Andrews (2012). “Preventing the Oil ‘Resource Curse’ in Ghana: Lessons from Nigeria.” World Futures Vol. 68 (6): 430-450.
  25. Andrews, Nathan (2010). “Telling Tales of Conformity and Mutual Interests: The Limits of a (Neo)liberal International Order.” International Journal Vol. 66 (1): 209-223.
  26. Andrews, Nathan (2009). “Foreign Aid and Development in Africa: What the Literature Says and What the Reality Is.” Journal of African Studies and Development. Vol. 1 (1): 008-015.

Book Chapters (peer-reviewed)

  1. Andrews, Nathan (2022). “Oil, Global Governance and Transparency Norm Proliferation,” in Dannreuther and Ostrowski eds. Oil and International Relations. (Edward Elgar Publishing), pp. xx-xxx.
  2. Compaoré, W. R. Nadège and Nathan Andrews (2022). “Temporality, Limited Statehood, and Africa’s Abandoned Mines” in Sowers et al. eds. Oxford Handbook on Comparative Environmental Politics. (Oxford University Press), pp. xx-xxx.
  3. Andrews, Nathan (2021). “The UN Global Compact: An Overview of the Promise and Pitfalls,” in Crowther and Seifi eds. The Palgrave Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility. (Palgrave Macmillan), pp. 865-885.
  4. Andrews, Nathan and Logan Cochrane (2021). “International Political Economy and the Land Rush in Africa: Trends, Scale, Narratives, and Contestations,” in Cochrane and Andrews eds. The Transnational Land Rush in Africa: A Decade after the Spike. (Palgrave Macmillan), pp.1-24.  
  5. Andrews, Nathan and Charis Enns (2020). “The Question of Gender and Human Security in Africa’s Extractive Industries,” in Oloruntoba and Falola eds., Palgrave Handbook of Africa Political Economy (Palgrave Macmillan), pp. 725-737.
  6. Osei-Kojo, Alex and Nathan Andrews (2020). “A Political Economy of Regulatory Policy: The Case of Illegal Small-Scale Mining in Ghana,” in Oloruntoba and Falola eds., Palgrave Handbook of Africa Political Economy (Palgrave Macmillan), pp. 433-447.
  7. Andrews, Nathan and J. Andrew Grant (2020). “Africa-Canada Relations in Natural Resource Sectors: Approaches to (and Prospects for) Corporate Social Responsibility, Good Governance, and Human Security.” in Andrews & Grant eds., Corporate Social Responsibility and Canada’s Role in Africa’s Extractive Sectors (University of Toronto Press), pp.1-25.
  8. Van Alstine, James and Nathan Andrews (2016). “Corporations, Civil Society and Disclosure: A Case Study of the EITI,” in Thijs Van de Graaf et al. eds, Palgrave Handbook of the International Political Economy of Energy (Palgrave Macmillan), pp. 95-114.

Scholarship of Teaching, Learning & Research (peer-reviewed)

  1. Andrews, Nathan and Isaac Odoom (2021). “Outside the Orthodoxy? The Crisis of IR and the Challenge of Teaching Monocultures,” in Smith and Hornsby eds. Teaching International Relations in a Time of Disruption. (Palgrave Macmillan), pp. 49-61.
  2. Andrews, Nathan (2020). “International Relations (IR) Pedagogy and Diversity: Taking the IR Course Syllabus Seriously.” All Azimuth Vol. 9(2): 267-281.
  3. Andrews, Nathan and Sylvia Bawa (2019). “‘People come and go but we don’t see anything’: How Might Social Research Contribute to Social Change?” The Qualitative Report Vol. 24 (11): 2874-2890.
  4. Odoom, Isaac and Nathan Andrews (2017). “What/Who Is Still Missing in International Relations (IR) Scholarship? Situating Africa as an Agent in IR Theorizing.” Third World Quarterly Vol. 38(1): 42-60. 
  5. Andrews, Nathan (2013). “Beyond the Ivory Tower: A Case for ‘Praxeological Deconstructionism’ as a ‘Third Way’ in IR Theorising.” Third World Quarterly. Vol. 34 (1): 59-76.
  6. Andrews, Nathan and Eyene Okpanachi (2012). “Trends of Epistemic Oppression and Academic Dependency in Africa’s Development: The Need for a New Intellectual Path.” Journal of Pan African Studies Vol. 5 (8): 85-103.