This chapter presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book places the starting point of analysis within the geographical space of Sub-Saharan Africa and focuses on agency which serves as a heuristic device in order to overcome one-sided analyses of regionalisms in Africa. It highlights distinct actors and actor constellations and minimize or even ignore others altogether and discusses the concept of agency and what we would call the 'agency approach'. The book addresses developments in Sub-Saharan Africa that are both key at present but that have also been central in a historical perspective. It covers security issues, economic regionalisms and focuses on actors below the radar. On the EU's impact on Southern African Development Community (SADC) and SACU, highlights the economic attractiveness of the European Union as primary explanatory factor for the incongruity between negotiation groupings and existing regional organizations in southern Africa.