“A nation which refuses to learn from foreign cultures is nothing but a nation of idiots and lunatics. Mankind could not progress at all if we all refused to learn from each other. But [this] …does not mean we should abandon our own [to embrace] the sort of learning from which we can benefit is the kind which can help us to perfect and broaden our own culture” (Nyerere 1966: 187). The question, “Is there a Global IR theory?” remains an important discourse in the world today especially, when ideas have no boundaries and societies are not static. Several scholars, Acharya and Buzan in contemporary literature have argued for the broadening and departure of wester centric construction of the world to give the discipline of IR a global perspective. Though, a lot of literature abounds, from Asian scholars, little have been done on Africa. Thus, in this paper, I argued that Nyerere’s Ujamaa holds in it insights that can better the theorising process in IR discipline. These insights exudes the principles and values of African Communitarianism, African reconceptualization of sovereignty, the concept of developmental state model, national unity and cohesion, and the contribution to pedagogical discourse of liberation which are often shallowly constructed by dominant western ideas.

Keywords: Global IR theory, Uhuru na Ujamaa, African Socialism, and Tanzania.