Africa and Shifting Global Power Relationships (original) (raw)
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2020
This collection of essays examines the subject of power politics in Africa, paying special attention to the interests of African regional powers, as well as their capabilities and strategies in the international arena. It provides a theoretical bridge between concerns for militarised national interest, perpetual distrust and insecurity, struggles for power and hegemony in power politics, and the spirit of pan-African solidarity, brotherhood, consensus, cooperation and integration. It is on these bases that this volume offers rich empirical insight into leading regional powers in Africa with special attention given to Nigeria and South Africa. It serves to contribute African perspectives to the field of International Relations, particularly regarding power politics, which is important in terms of Africanising the narratives of a subject matter that is largely considered as Eurocentric in African and other non-Western societies.
Editorial: New Directions in International Relations and Africa
The Round Table, 2009
This special issue provides a collection of new interpretations of Africa's international relations. Africa's place in the contemporary international system presents a series of challenges to scholars and practitioners alike. Not only, for example, must we try to understand the impact of rapid changes in the world economic and political landscapes such as the rapid development of China and the growing influence of developing countries in governance projects such as the G20, we must also seek to better understand changes within Africa. A series of transformations form the modern renaissance of Africa arising from the end of apartheid in South Africa to the emergence of new or reinvigorated institutional mechanisms of governance such as the African Union and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), multilateral lending, and democratisation in a number of African states. Vital issues like conflict and peacemaking, aid, health, migration and liberalisation, are given new form in Africa as a result of the continent's engagements with a range of other subregional, regional and systemic level actors including states, governmental and non-governmental organisations, multinational business, and civil society groups. The period since the end of the Cold War has seen a series of important studies of Africa's international relations. Some, such as Christopher Clapham's landmark Africa in the International System and Taylor and Williams' Africa in International Politics have provided critical analyses of the multiple dimensions of Africa's political and economic linkages with the world. Others, such as Dunn and Shaw's Africa's Challenge to International Relations Theory have focused on the theoretical implications that the study of Africa's international relations poses. The latter particularly raises a debate about to what extent, if any, existing theoretical traditions within the discipline of International Relations (IR) are adequate to meet the analytical problems faced. 1 This special issue arose out of a one-day workshop New Directions in International Relations and Africa held at the Open University in July 2008. The workshop was organised by the BISA Africa and International Studies Working Group and the editors would like to thank the British International Studies Association and the Politics and International Studies Department at the Open University who provided the funding for the workshop. Details of the BISA Africa and International Studies Working Group are available at: www.open.ac.uk/socialsciences/bisa-africa. New research in the field picks up these substantive and theoretical debates. For some, received theory needs to be transcended in order to raise legitimate questions about the nature and boundaries of the study of Africa's international relations. For others, new directions mean exploring how new and emerging approaches within the discipline of IR, and within International Political Economy, can develop new insights that help us to theorise not only what the study of 'the international' tells us about Africa, but what the politics of Africa offers for theoretical conceptions of international relations. Others try to develop more state-centric discourses of international relations by exploring the role of different kinds of political actors and issues as central to the process of international relations. More substantively, research has begun to target key contemporary and longstanding issues such as education, the environment, health and HIV/AIDS; political issues of governance and the much contested 'African state', civil society and relationships with international organisations, as well as offering new conceptual approaches both
Examining the Role of Africa in a Changing Global Order: Challenges and Opportunities
African Journal of Public Affairs, 2021
Africa has been engulfed by issues of conflict, malnutrition, corruption and political patronage. To understand the challenges or underlying factors impeding Africa's development, this article employed a qualitative research method where a review of the literature was undertaken. It was revealed, despite abundant resources, corruption and political intolerance have hindered Africa's development and integration. Moreover, there is a lack of consensus among African leaders to better cooperate and collaborate on regional problems. African countries have prioritised working with other countries beyond the continent. Such lack of internal cooperation means Africa's role in the international system will continue being overlooked and not taken as something of significant importance. The implication of this means Africa will continue being seen as a periphery continent with no hope of development caught amid great power politics.
World Power's Foreign Policies Approaches in Africa: An Examination
PortHarcourt Journal of History and Diplomatic Studies, 2020
Considering the evolving nature of the international system, foreign policies of states are in constant flux. In this regard, the foreign policies of major world powers have undergone changes over the years which were determined by a given situation at a particular period of time in history. For example, World War II, and the Cold War that followed immediately were informed by the ideological rivalry between capitalist and socialist or communism; therefore, the foreign policy at that period was targeted towards ideology. However, after the Cold War, and the fall of Soviet Union which ended the ideological war, world powers now focused on national interest as against ideology. What this foreign policy shift meant to African nations, and the application of this policy in Africa, by the world powers, are the questions this paper seeks to answer. This study is multidisciplinary inclined, employing the historical descriptive approach in the analysis of the issues; while Hopson's theory of imperialism is used to provide the theoretical anchorage for the study. It is the position of this paper that foreign policy of world powers towards Africa is-condescending and gainless‖ for African States. This is because in all intents and purposes, the interest of the African States was never on contention. Therefore, there has to be a deliberate response by Africa to Change this ugly narratives.
Africa and the World: Navigating Shifting Geopolitics
South African Journal of International Affairs, 2020
Africa's shifting geopolitics in a changing strategic landscape: Towards greater agency Geographically situated in the 'Global South' as the geological extension of the Afro-Eurasian land mass, Africa is centrally situated at the very intersection of global strategic dynamics. This raises a number of questions. Chiefly: How does Africa and its future, interlinked with the continent's encircling geopolitical, economic and security dynamics impinging on continental-maritime perimeters in proximity to Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the America's relate to the broader west-to-east shifting of the global political economy's center of gravity in a still evolving multipolar strategic landscape? This policy brief attempts to address this predicament from a uniquely Africa-centered vantage-point, highlighting key recommendations for enhancing African agency and strategic autonomy. It is a perspective informed by the continent's globally centered positioning relative to all other continents and continental-maritime interregional zones of political, security and geoeconomic intercourse. As such, the continent is configured in such a manner as to be suggestive of a mega-island or, if you will, 'Island Africa.' INSTITUTE FOR GLOBAL DIALOGUE
Africa in Contemporary World Politics: The Dynamics and Effects of Domination
Africa has always been part of global politics but majorly on the receiving end. After over five decades of independence, this situation has not changed and there is little reason to believe that positive change is to be expected under the prevailing configurations of power. Against, this background, this paper takes a critical look at the place of Africa in the contemporary world politics. It interrogates its politics of domination, examines the dynamics of that domination and its impacts which it summed under the rubrics of insecurity. Noting that under the established practices, rules and behavioral patterns of the global community that the vicious cycle of domination cannot be broken, the paper made radical recommendations on how best to escape domination
Africa in the International System: the Great Powers in Search of a Perspective
Government and Opposition, 1979
IT SEEMS TO ME THAT THE AFRICAN CONTINENT HAS ALWAYS occupied an ambiguous and in the last analysis unhealthy place in the Western mind. To some its vast empty spaces have promised the riches of a new El Dorado together with the piratical thrills associated with their plunder, to others the challenge of a last frontier along which to stake out and defend their interests; while for many Africa was either the dark continent, a corrupt and corruptin place, or the last stronghold of barbarism waiting upon the enlightenment, or a refuge of worldly innocence where a breed of New Men might at last transcend their own past (and ours) and build a society based not on exploitation and conflict but on social justice.
Africa and the New Global Reality: Counting Gains Or Losses
International relations are undergoing profound changes with the entrance of other " powerful " actors on the scene. There is a widespread perception that power is shifting to the south. Much scholarly attention has been paid to what Goldman Sachs analyst, Jim O " Neill in 2001 referred to as the " BRIC-Brazil, Russia, India and China " (BRIC), which now include South Africa (BRICS). The rise and influence of these new actors in Africa cannot be overemphasized. Thus, this paper examines what Africa stands to gain or lose with the arrival of new powers such as China. The major questions that this paper seeks to answer are, how is Africa facing the new global reality? Are emerging powers entrance impacting on Africa negatively or positively? What does Africa stand to gain or lose from emerging powers, particularly China, in the continent?