Olufemi A. Babarinde is a Senior Strategist with Navigate International and an Associate Professor of International Studies and Academic Director of the MBA in International Management program at Thunderbird — The Garvin School of International Management. His regular teaching responsibilities include Contemporary Business in Europe, Business Environment of Europe, Business Environment of Sub-Saharan Africa, European Integration, and International Political Economy. He spent two non-consecutive semesters at the Thunderbird-Europe campus near, where he taught the Business Environment of Europe course and the seminar on European Integration. Since 1997, he has also taught a three-week transatlantic seminar on “The Big Emerging Market of South Africa” every January in the Republicn of South Africa.
Olufemi received his B.A. in Economics from Wittenberg University (1983), his M.A. in Economics (1985) and in Political Science (1988), and his Ph.D. in Political Science (1991) from Miami University.His research areas include the integration process of the European Union, African regionalism, and the European Union’s external relations, especially with the less-developed countries, the United States, and Africa.He also co-organized a 1993 international conference on Africa, “ Africa in Transition: Challenges and Opportunities,” a 1994 workshop on “Investing in African Business and Society,” and a 1995 conference on “Economic Relations in a World in Transition: The United States and the European Union.”
His most recent publications include “The African Union Debuts: Following in the Footsteps of the EU?” (2003), “The Euro Debuts: European Money, Global Money, or Both?” (2003), “Regionalism and Economic Development” (2003), “Nigerian Technology Policy in the 20th Century: Wishful Thinking or Reality?” (2003), “Nigeria : Uneasy Calm after a Stormy Past” (2003), “Ambition in Nigerian Foreign Policy” (with Stephen Wright)” (2002), “ Nigeria : Abacha Consolidates the Military’s Power” (2001), “ Nigeria : Political Turbulence and Economic Crisis” (with Stephen Wright) (2000), “ Europe Holds its breath over the € uro” (1999), and “Regionalism and African Foreign Policy” (1999).Olufemi is also a member of the editorial board of Africa Today and of The International Executive, and he has served as a reviewer for a handful of academic journals.
Olufemi is a member of the European Community Studies Association, the International Studies Association, the African Studies Association, the American Political Science Association, the Academy of International Business, and the Phi Sigma Alpha National Political Science Honor Society.He is also a founding member of the African Association of Arizona.