Four centuries of precolonial diplomatic, economic, and military African–European relations have been neglected in international relations. Refuting common presumptions about European dominance, before, during, and after the heyday of the Atlantic slave trade, African rulers and merchants were generally in a position of equality or superiority in their relations with Europeans. Contrary to expectations that long-term interaction promotes homogenization via institutional diffusion from core to periphery, Africans generally eschewed European political, economic, and military models such as the Westphalian state, the corporation, and the salaried standing army. Instead, they utilized external opportunities in ways that reinforced evolving local differences, or adopted institutions from the Islamic world; Europeans in Africa were more likely to adopt African models than vice versa. That African polities held out against European dominance longer than larger, richer, and more militarily powerful Asian polities, and that stateless African societies held out longest of all, brings into question fundamental assumptions about survival under international anarchy.

中文翻译：

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反对扩散：非洲-欧洲关系中的权力和机构

四个世纪前殖民时期的非洲与欧洲的外交、经济和军事关系在国际关系中被忽视了。在大西洋奴隶贸易全盛时期之前、期间和之后，非洲统治者和商人在与欧洲人的关系中普遍处于平等或优越的地位，驳斥了关于欧洲统治地位的普遍假设。与长期互动通过从核心到边缘的制度扩散促进同质化的预期相反，非洲人普遍回避欧洲的政治、经济和军事模式，如威斯特伐利亚国家、公司和领薪常备军。相反，他们利用外部机会来强化不断变化的当地差异，或者采用伊斯兰世界的制度；在非洲的欧洲人更有可能采用非洲模式，反之亦然。非洲政体比规模更大、更富裕、军事更强大的亚洲政体抵抗欧洲统治的时间更长，而且无国家的非洲社会抵抗欧洲统治的时间最长，这使人们对国际无政府状态下生存的基本假设产生了质疑。