A professor emeritus of political science at York University, Toronto, John Saul has had a long and distinguished career as writer, teacher and activist in both Canada and southern Africa. As part of his involvement and concern with national liberation movements in Africa, he has participated in many committees with leaders of these movements, and interacted with them on issues of strategies and policies.

He has authored and co-authored some 20 books on Africa and more general development issues, and is considered an authority on the region. Among his most famous books are essays on the Political Economy of Africa (with Giovanni Arrighi), Recolonization and Resistance: southern Africa in the 1990s, The Next Liberation Struggle: Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy in Southern Africa.