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photograph of J Andrew Grant

J. Andrew Grant

Associate Professor

He/Him

PhD (Dalhousie)

Political Studies

International Relations

Associate Professor

grantja@queensu.ca

Phone: (613) 533-6235

Mackintosh-Corry Hall, C424

People Directory Affiliation Category
Faculty
International Relations

Research Interests

  • International Relations
  • African Security
  • Global Governance
  • Conflict and Cooperation in Natural Resource Sectors
  • Regionalism and Regionalization,
  • Non-State Armed Groups
  • Arms Trade Treaty
  • Post-Conflict Reconstruction

Brief Biography

Dr. J. Andrew Grant is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Studies at Queen’s University. He is the recipient of an Early Researcher Award from the Government of Ontario’s Ministry of Research and Innovation for work on governance issues in natural resource sectors. Dr. Grant has been a Visiting Scholar/Researcher at Northwestern University, USA, and the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. During his doctoral studies, he served as an intern at the Campaign for Good Governance in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Dr. Grant is editor of (CIR / CIDP 2009) and co-editor of (with F. Söderbaum, Ashgate 2003), (with T.M. Shaw and S. Cornelissen, Ashgate 2012), (with W.R.N. CompaorĂ© and M.I. Mitchell, Palgrave 2015), (with N. Andrews, University of Toronto Press 2020; The Hill Times' List of 100 Best Books in 2020), and (with N. Andrews and J.S. Ovadia, University of Toronto Press 2022, now Open Access). His publications on conflict diamonds and the Kimberley Process, non-state armed groups and regional security, post-conflict reconstruction in fragile states, Canada-Africa relations, and governance issues relating to natural resources – including critical minerals – have been funded by research agencies such as the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the British Academy-Association of Commonwealth Universities. He conducts field research on a regular basis in Sierra Leone, Ghana, Uganda, Botswana, Namibia, Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Africa. Dr. Grant is a Senior Fellow with the Queen’s Centre for International and Defence Policy and a Research Fellow with the Centre for the Study of Security and Development at Dalhousie University. In 2017, he served as the International Studies Association (ISA) Program Chair for some 6,000 participants attending the 58th annual conference. A former Executive Council member of ISA-Canada and Chair of the ISA Committee on Virtual Engagement, he currently serves as the Canadian Political Science Association (CPSA) Liaison with the ISA and the American Political Science Association (APSA). He also serves on the Editorial/Advisory Boards of the Journal of Regional Security, Interdisciplinary Political Studies, and Extractive Industries and Society.

Teaching

For detailed information about political studies courses and instructors, please refer to the Undergraduate and Graduate pages. 

Service (2024/2025)

  • Colloquium Committee
  • Departmental Committee
  • Equity Issues Committee (Chair)

Selected Publications

“Sustainability and Critical Minerals for Whom? Agential Constructivist Analyses of African Agency in the Southern African Development Community” (with Surulola Eke and Meghan Hembruff). In S.O. Oloruntoba, L.M. Tshimpaka, J.A. Grant and E. Phaswana, eds. Regional Natural Resource Governance in Africa: The Political Economy of Sustainable Development, New York: Bloomsbury, 2026.

“Transnational Capital and the Scramble for Land and Profit: Financialization, Agrarian Development, and Resource Conflict in Africa” (with Surulola Eke, Evelyn N. Mayanja, and Nathan Andrews). World Development, 194:107076, 2025, 1-14.

Sustainable Mining for Whom? Agential Constructivist Perspectives on Global Mining Sector Consultation Regimes in Africa” (with Surulola Eke and Meghan Hembruff). In P. Haslam, N. Andrews, K. Buhmann, I. Odumosu-Ayanu and M. Stoddart, eds. Contested Consultations in the Extractive Industries: Rights, Processes, and Tensions. London: Routledge, 2025, 41-57.

“The Global Implementation of UNDRIP: A Thematic Review” (with Isabelle CĂŽtĂ©, Atiarul Islam, Victoria McLean, Matthew I. Mitchell and Dimitrios Panagos). International Journal of Human Rights 29:2, 2025, 306-330.

“Trailblazers and Laggards: Explaining Variation in UNDRIP Implementation at the Sub-National Level in Canada” (with Isabelle CĂŽtĂ©, Matthew I. Mitchell, Dimitrios Panagos and Louis-Charles Vaillancourt). Canadian Journal of Political Science, 58:4, 2025, 898-926.

“Unpacking the State: An Agential Constructivist Assessment of Natural Resources Canada’s Implementation of the UNDRIP” (with Anika I. Bousquet). Canadian Foreign Policy Journal, 31:1, 2025, 77-101.

“The Plan Nord in Northern QuĂ©bec, Canada: Pathway to Peace and Prosperity or Powder Keg?” (with Isabelle CĂŽtĂ©, Matthew I. Mitchell and Dimitrios Panagos). Ethnopolitics 23:3, 2024, 273-293.

“An Agential Constructivist Analysis of Meaningful Stakeholder Engagement in Africa’s Critical Minerals Sector: Insights from the Democratic Republic of Congo” (with Surulola Eke, Evelyn N. Mayanja and Olusola Ogunnubi). In K. Buhmann, A. Fonseca, N. Andrews and G. Amatulli, eds. The Routledge International Handbook on Meaningful Stakeholder Engagement. London: Routledge, 2024, 225-243.

“ESG Ratings in the Mining Industry: Factors and Implications” (with Mahelet G. Fikru, Jennifer Brodmann and Li-Li Eng). Extractive Industries and Society 20:101521, 2024, 1-13.

“Forest Governance and REDD+ in Sub-Saharan Africa: Advancing a Participatory System” (with Adrien N. Djomo, Lindsay M. MacDonald and Evelyn N. Mayanja). In H.G. Besada, C. D’Alessandro and T. Golla eds. Routledge Handbook on Natural Resources in Africa. London: Routledge, 2024, 85-105.

“The Power of Numbers: How Majority/Minority Status affects Media Coverage and Framing of Indigenous Contentious Politics in Canada” (with Isabelle CĂŽtĂ©, Megan DeVries, Matthew I. Mitchell and Dimitrios Panagos). Politics, Groups, and Identities 11:3, 2023, 619-637.

“Natural Resource Governance in Africa” (with Evelyn N. Mayanja, Shingirai Taodzera and Dawit Tesfamichael). In N. Sandal, ed. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of International Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022, 1-46,

“Gender, Land Grabbing, and Glocal Land Governance in Ghana and Uganda” (with Patricia Ackah-Baidoo and Andrea M. Collins). In N. Andrews, J.A. Grant and J.S. Ovadia, eds. Natural Resource-Based Development in Africa: Panacea or Pandora’s Box? Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2022, 101-122.

“Regionalism Beyond State-Centrism: African Regionalism in Comparative Perspective” (with Abdiasis Issa, Fredrik Söderbaum and Badriyya Yusuf). International Journal 77:3, 2022, 449-468.

“Reflexive Pluralism in IR: Canadian Contributions to Worlding the Global South” (with W.R. NadĂšge CompaorĂ© and StĂ©phanie Martel). International Studies Perspectives 23:1, 2022, 71-93.

“A Flash in the Pan? Agential Constructivist Perspectives on Local Content, Governance, and the Large-Scale Mining–Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining Interface in West Africa” (with Cindy Wilhelm). Resources Policy 77:102592, 2022, 1-11.

“Towards Praxes of the Region: Agential Constructivist Approaches to Regionalisms”. International Journal 77:3, 2022, 414-429.

“Agential Constructivism, Shadow Regionalisms and Interregional Dynamics in the Horn of Africa” (with Abdiasis Issa and Badriyya Yusuf). In E. Lopez Lucia and F. Mattheis, eds. The Unintended Consequences of Interregionalism: Effects on Regional Actors, Societies and Structures. London: Routledge, 2021, 165-184.

“Teaching as a Form of Disrupting International Relations” (with David J. Hornsby). In H.A. Smith and D.J. Hornsby, eds. Teaching International Relations in a Time of Disruption. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2021, 9-23.

“Security for Whom? Analysing Hybrid Security Governance in Africa’s Extractive Sectors” (with Charis Enns and Nathan Andrews). International Affairs 96:4, 2020, 995-1013.

“Conflict-Prone Minerals, Forced Migration and Norm Dynamics in the Kimberley Process and ICGLR.” In T. Krieger, D. Panke and M. Pregernig, eds. Environmental Conflicts, Migration and Governance. Bristol: Bristol University Press, 2020, 197-217. 

“Agential Constructivism and Change in World Politics”. International Studies Review 20:2, 2018, 255-263.

“The Glocal Dynamics of Land Reform in Natural Resource Sectors: Insights from Tanzania” (with A.M. Collins and P. Ackah-Baidoo). Land Use Policy 81 (February), 2019, 889-896.

“Natural Resource Governance in Africa: Insights from Governance Initiatives on Conflict-Prone Minerals and Sustainable Forestry.” In Hany G. Besada, M. Evren Tok and Leah McMillan Polonenko, eds. Innovating South-South Cooperation: Policies, Challenges, and Prospects. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 2019, 269-288.

“Forest Governance and REDD+ in Central Africa: Towards a Participatory Model to Increase Stakeholder Involvement in Carbon Markets” (with A.N. Djomo et al). International Journal of Environmental Studies 75:2, 2018, 251-266.

“Eliminating Conflict Diamonds and other Conflict-Prone Minerals”. In Katharina P. Coleman and Thomas K. Tieku, eds. African Actors in International Security: Shaping Contemporary Norms. Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 2018, 51-71.

“The Kimberley Process on Conflict Diamonds, New Regionalisms, and the Dynamics of (De/Re)Territorialization”. In Ulf Engel, Heidrun Zinecker, Frank Mattheis, Antje Dietze and Thomas Plötze, eds. The New Politics of Regionalism: Perspectives from Africa, Latin America and Asia-Pacific. London: Routledge, 2017, 146-158.

“Norm Dynamics and International Organisations: South Africa in the African Union and International Criminal Court” (with S. Hamilton). Commonwealth Comparative Politics 54:2, 2016, 161-185.

“Afro-Optimism Re-Invigorated? Reflections on the Glocal Networks of Sexual Identity, Health, and Natural Resources in Africa” (with A.N. Djomo and M.G. Krause). Global Change, Peace and Security 28:3, 2016, 317-328.

“Assessing the European Union’s Engagement with Transnational Policy Networks on Conflict-Prone Natural Resources” (with R.W. Alorse and W.R.N. CompaorĂ©). Contemporary Politics 21:3, 2015, 245-257.

“A Historical Institutionalist Understanding of Participatory Governance and Aboriginal Peoples: The Case of Policy Change in Ontario’s Mining Sector” (with D. Panagos, M. Hughes and M.I. Mitchell). Social Science Quarterly 95:4, 2014, 978-1000.

“The Political Economy of Transitory Mining in Ghana: Understanding the Trajectories, Triumphs, and Tribulations of Artisanal and Small-Scale Operators” (with F.K. Nyame). Extractive Industries and Society 1:1, 2014, 75-85.

“Consensus Dynamics and Global Governance Frameworks: Insights from the Kimberley Process on Conflict Diamonds.” Canadian Foreign Policy Journal 19:3, 2013, 323-339.

“Constitutional Change, Aboriginal Rights, and Mining Policy in Canada” (with D. Panagos). Commonwealth Comparative Politics 51:4, 2013, 405-423.

“Reflections on Network Governance in Africa’s Forestry Sector” (with D. Balraj and G. Mavropoulos-Vagelis). Natural Resources Forum 37:4, 2013, 269-279.

“Commonwealth Cousins Combating Conflict Diamonds: An Examination of South African and Canadian Contributions to the Kimberley Process.” Commonwealth Comparative Politics 51:2, 2013, 210-233.

“Micro-Regionalisms, Information and Communication Technologies, and Migration in West Africa: A Comparative Analysis of Ghana’s Diamond, Cocoa, and Gold Sectors” (with M.I. Mitchell, F.K. Nyame and N. Yakovleva). In Ulrike Lorenz-Carl and Martin Rempe, eds. Mapping Agency: Comparing Regionalisms in Africa. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2013, 149-174.

“From Carats to Karats: Explaining the Shift from Diamond to Gold Mining by Artisanal Miners in Ghana” (with F.K. Nyame). Journal of Cleaner Production 29 (July), 2012, 163-172.

“The Kimberley Process at Ten: Reflections on a Decade of Efforts to End the Trade in Conflict Diamonds.” In PĂ€ivi Lujala and Siri Aas Rustad, eds. High-Value Natural Resources and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding. New York: Earthscan / Taylor Francis, 2012, 159-179.

“Clan Identity and Islamic Identity in Somalia: An Examination of Non-State Armed Groups in Regional and Sub-Regional Context.” In David Last and Anthony Seaboyer, eds. Clan and Islamic Identities in Somali Society. Toronto: Defence Research and Development Canada, 2011, 35-44.

“New Regionalisms and the African Union: Reflections on the Rise of Africrats, Regional Economic Integration, and Inter-Regional Relations” (with T.K. Tieku). In B.J.C. McKercher, ed. Routledge Handbook of Diplomacy and Statecraft. London: Routledge, 2011, 264-273.

"Natural Resources, International Regimes and State-Building: Diamonds in West Africa." Comparative Social Research 27:1, 2010, 223-248.

“Digging Deep for Profits and Development? Reflections on Enhancing the Governance of Africa’s Mining Sector.” South African Institute of International Affairs 49 (October), 2009, 5-19.

“Perspectives on Migration Patterns in Ghana’s Mining Industry” (with F.K. Nyame and N. Yakovleva). Resources Policy: The International Journal of Minerals Policy and Economics 34:1-2, 2009, 6-11.

“Informal Cross-Border Micro-Regionalism in West Africa: The Case of the Parrot’s Beak.” In Fredrik Söderbaum and Ian Taylor, eds.& Afro-Regions: The Dynamics of Cross-Border Micro-Regionalism in Africa. Uppsala: Nordic Africa Institute, 2008, 105-120.

“Diamonds, Foreign Aid, and the Uncertain Prospects for Post-Conflict Reconstruction in Sierra Leone.” The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs 94:381, 2005, 443-457.

“Global Governance and Conflict Diamonds: The Kimberley Process and the Quest for Clean Gems” (with I. Taylor). The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs 93:375, 2004, 385-401.