Africa's International Relations

Americans were once appalled to hear and see countries in Africa or Asia or Latin America and elsewhere around the globe descent into political chaos because of the tribal, dysfunctional political system and identity politics. Today the same phenomena that once bewildered them are slowly but steadily itching into the social and cultural fabric that once made America a great nation. Ever since the election of Donald J. Trump in November 2016, the political Left or radical Left to be precise, i.e., the Social Justice Warriors, the Moral Crusaders of Hollywood, the overtly Bias Media Establishment and the Disgruntled Never Trumpers, though on the fences as of late, have unleashed an ideological and cultural war, that if left unchecked, will bring down the American Republic. The Justice Kavanaugh’s hearings have shown that the majority of Democrats and their radical supporters have not come to grips with the loss of the elections in November 2016. The resistance to accept the reality coupled with the personal hatred against President Trump have gone from sheer political disagreements and policy outcomes to pure betrayal of the political principles that have kept America glued by its institutions of law such as the Supreme Court of Justice and the United States Congress. That said, no matter what the political ideologies or inclinations of both parties may be, the personal hatred towards the President and the use of the identity politics as the means to divide and categorize Americans are stoking division and tearing the country apart.

The partnership between the European Union (EU) and the African Union (AU) in Darfur is attracting renewed, and critical attention on the former’s growing political role in Africa. The EU is a major aid provider in Africa and has tended, since the beginning of the 1990s, to expand its exclusively developmental
role to a more political one through a greater involvement in security issues. In the Horn of Africa, however, most former colonial powers have only maintained loose links with their former colonies, with the obvious exception of France in Djibouti. The Horn’s very strategic location has slowly made it a US chasse gardée where the EU and its member states often
remain behind the scene. Since the 9/11 attacks it has been one of the regions most closely observed by Western intelligence. Counter-terrorism issues have clearly influenced US politics in the region. This Briefing will examine whether the EU shares these and other US concerns.

In 2013, India became Africa’s fourth largest trading partner. At the beginning of the new millennium, that figure had only stood at $5 billion. In 2014, when the new Indian government took office, some observers predicted that India-Africa relations would expand at an even higher pace and argued that “Modi's Win Is Good News for Africa” (Hayes 2014). However, between 26 May 2014, the day that Narendra Modi was sworn in as Prime Minister of India, and 26 October 2015, the day the 3rd India-Africa Forum Summit (IAFS-III) started, India’s Africa policy was in some sort of hibernation. The fact that the summit was postponed twice further added to the feeling that the first 17 months had to be seen as the build-up for Modi’s “grand reach-out to the continent”. Now, with IAFS-III finally having taken place only some weeks ago, it seems especially timely to take a closer look at current India-Africa relations: Has the new government “Modi-fied” India’s Africa policy?

This book surveys the socio-economic, intellectual and security related dimensions of African regionalisms since the turn of the 20th century through a discussion of the grammar and languages of African regionalisms. It argues that the continent deserves to be considered as a crucible for conceptualizing and contextualizing  colonial legacies, the emergence of specific integration and security cultures, the spread of cross-border regionalisation processes at the expense of region-building, the interplay between territory, space and trans-state networks, and the ambivalence of frontier and emergence narratives. This is emphasized through the  identification of distinctive 'threads' of  regionalism that, as they  focus on genealogies, trajectories and ideals transcend the binary divide between old and new regionalisms. The book opens new avenues for the study of African agency in  international relations and the contribution of Africa to International Relations as a disciplin.

The Cabo Delgado province in the northernmost part of the long Mozambican seaboard is now home to Africa’s three largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects; these projects have attracted many of the world’s major multinational energy companies, accompanied by massive LNG investments. There can be little doubt that the discovery of rich LNG reserves is a potential game changer for Mozambique’s economy and the development agenda of the country. It is potentially an opportunity for the rapid advancement of a country that currently ranks close to the bottom of the United Nation’s Human Development Index. World Bank data annually ranks Mozambique as among the poorest countries in the world.

Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire … For many, these names conjure up political crises and violent conflicts. The five West African countries that constitute the Mano River Basin have attracted significant international and regional attention and preoccupation over the last fifteen years.

Due to its history of colonial involvement in Africa, Europe shares a common past with these countries and has maintained a close partnership with them ever since their independence. Over the years, a series of agreements has established trade and development aid partnership links between the European Union and the Africa-Caribbean-Pacific (ACP) group of states. An increasing emphasis on political stability and on security was progressively introduced into the two last Lomé agreements and their successor, the Cotonou Agreement (2000). This peace and security dimension is also fully acknowledged in the EU's strategic partnership for Africa, which sets out the steps the EU will take by 2015 to support African efforts to build a peaceful future.

The Mano River conflicts justified and gave a new urgency to these new efforts and the region remains the focus of considerable European political analysis and attention. This Chaillot Paper focuses on the recent trend in the EU towards a holistic understanding of development in Africa, whereby security, political stability and democracy are now considered essential elements in the recipe for economic development. A range of specific EU instruments for dealing with Africa has gradually emerged in this context. Against this background, the paper suggests some approaches for the improvement of the EU's current responses to West Africa's fragile economic and political stability.

The international community currently favours an approach to development that stresses a triangular linkage between security, good governance and economic development. This approach clearly informs the European Union's agenda in Africa, which has progressively integrated governance and security elements.

This paper will show that this agenda is at least as much determined by the bureaucratic and national affiliations of the concerned EU actors as it is by African realities and international trends. African security indeed triggers a competition between the different European institutions, eager to be the driving force for a policy that can offer some additional resources and autonomy. The consistency and the credibility of the EU security policy in Africa will therefore depend on the responses provided to these institutional rivalries.

The international community currently favours an approach to development that stresses a triangular linkage between security, good governance and economic development. This approach clearly informs the European Union’s agenda in Africa, which has progressively integrated governance and security elements. This paper will show that this agenda is at least as much determined by the bureaucratic and national affiliations of the concerned EU actors as it is by African realities and international trends. African security indeed triggers a competition between the different European institutions, eager to be the driving force for a policy that can offer some additional resources and autonomy. The consistency and the credibility of the EU security policy in Africa will therefore depend on the responses provided to these institutional rivalries.
Co-authored with Niagalé Bagayoko

The paper is based on a vide range of evidence collected by a group of researchers headed by the author in 2006–2010. The nature and scope of the collected evidence allow arriving at veritable conclusions on the specifics of Russia’s image in Africans countries, particularly, on the positive and negative aspects of the influence of the image of the USSR on it. The research shows that, on the one hand, an independent image of post-Soviet Russia in Africa has not formed yet, first of all because of Russia’s very weak information, economic, and political presence on the continent, what is a prerequisite for the formation of its image as non-positive by itself. However, on the other hand, post-Soviet Russia has partially inherited the image of the USSR, up to now associated for many Africans first and foremost with the support of their struggle against colonialism, neocolonialism, apartheid, and economic backwardness. An independent image of present-day Russia in Africa is rather absent than negative, and it has objective opportunities for constructing its image as positive by making African policy more active, mutually beneficial, and taking into account the specific features of African culture, including political and business. In the meantime, it is important to remember that these opportunities are diminishing as the generations of people who remember the Soviet Unionin leave the public scene.

The article is based on a vide range of evidence collected by a group of researchers headed by the author in 2006–2008. The nature and scope of the collected evidence can allow arriving at veritable conclusions on the degree of the post-Soviet Russia’s independent image formation in the Africans’ consciousness, and on the positive and negative aspects of the USSR image’s influence on it. The research shows that, on the one hand, an independent image of Russia in Africa has not formed yet, first of all because of its very weak information, economic, and political presence on the continent what is a prerequisite for the formation of its image as non-positive by itself. However, on the other hand, there are grounds for arguing that post-Soviet Russia has partially inherited the image of the USSR, up to now associated for many Africans with the support of their struggle against colonial-ism, neocolonialism, apartheid, economic backwardness and dependence, first and foremost. An independent image of Russia in Africa is rather absent than negative, and it has objective opportuni-ties for constructing its image as positive.

Decolonising Intervention is a beautiful account written in a clear, jargon free language. Sabaratnam weaves her case historically, methodically, in sustained empirical sediments. She strategically exploits the gap between intentionality and reality, presence and subjecthood in order to show that intervention is not a field of technocratic jostling but rather a field of negotiation of values towards, and against, an ever-receding horizon of “public integrity”. Decolonising Intervention is also an invitation to reform intervention as a space of emancipation – to elaborate conditions that can ensure that the space of experience and the space of knowledge coalesce.

The African continent is in the midst of multiple transformations. The global context marked by the overlapping of crises (democratic, social and ecological) has embraced Africa as the main stage for all these changes, presenting different accents and characteristics in each region. Similarly, many of the major impacts on the international scene, such as the rise of the Asian continent and China, now occupying the centre of worldwide geopolitics, cannot be explained without the central role of the African region. Therefore, it could be argued that Africa today hosts a reciprocity of dynamics. On the one hand, the continent is one of the main world arenas assembling intense multipolar competition for geopolitical and geoeconomic interests. On the other hand, with its own particular features, Africa is a sounding board of the global crises faced by the ensemble of societies. Taking into consideration these two mechanisms at work, the African continent can no longer be conceived as a peripheral region in the framework of international relations, despite being the trend that has recurrently permeated interpretations and discourses on Africa. In the same vein, we have an obligation to understand and reflect on the role of the African continent in the post-pandemic global scenario. To do so, it is crucial to eschew the clichés and narratives responsible for simplifying the reality of Africa, which is key to comprehending the big picture of modernity and globalization.

In this article, the author reflects on how she and her students were able to draw on elements of popular culture to develop their understanding of Africa's international relations. The article shows, in particular, how the use of popular culture material has, as the relevant pedagogical literature suggests, strengthened student engagement and deepened their learning experience, notably by offering them greater freedom in their analysis and interpretation of the ideas and issues studied in class. Most importantly, the use of popular culture has helped them consider the very wide range of voices and views on Africa, its politics and international relations, but also apprehend popular culture as a political arena – one where political images and ideas are shaped that durably inform and influence international relations and politics.