Africa’s policy towards the US: The Biden Era.
Edited by Bob Wekesa. African Centre for the Study of the United States. 2021
Perspectives on wide-ranging Africa-US intersections – order here.
President Joe Biden declares that “America is back” in terms of global standing, but the global economic landscape has changed, and other players are concerned, owing to former President Donald Trump’s “America First” campaign (Voanews, 2021; Washington Post, 2021).
African actors in the international arena, for example, are calling for an Afrocentric policy framework and approach to a wide variety of issues in international relations, including peace and security, conflict resolution, bilateral and multilateral engagements, financial aid and development mechanisms, trade relations, and democracy, highlighting the significance of African agency in the discussion. When it comes to focusing on how Africa should engage the United States (US) under Biden’s administration, the book excels.
African countries should base their approaches to the United States on pragmatic analysis . . .
The book consists of fifteen chapters that deal primarily with Africa’s policy framework towards the US, peace and stability interventions and African agency. It does this by requesting a tiering of African perspectives on the US, beginning with the broad and general and advancing to the specific and detailed. Proposing that Africans consider new ways of thinking about the US, not just from the perspective of Africa’s policy toward the US and present processes, but also from the perspective of multiple dynamics concerning Africa and the US on the global sphere.
Instead of idealistic goals, African countries should base their foreign policy approaches to the United States on pragmatic analysis. As a result, the relationship should be guided by the investments made collectively by the US and Africa in full disclosure and integrity.
Creating a framework that can be used at all levels of African government to address the continent’s lack of peace and security, and other challenges. Rather than just focusing on counterterrorism, the US should invest in national development within countries. Including women in the creation and implementation of policies in order to provide a more inclusive approach to establishing a peaceful and secure continent. If the United States is to succeed in forming a relationship with Africa, it must be aware of African concerns and work together to address them.
Under the Biden administration, US-Africa ties should be more focused on democracy and less on competing with China, which reduces the African continent to a simple theater of US-China geopolitical contestation. The United States has had its eyes fixed on Africa in terms of economy and commerce, and conditions have frequently been a component of the plans. Consequently, scholars and officials in both Africa and the United States are wondering if the Biden administration will and can deliver policy clarity and continuity in this regard.
The U.S. must be aware of African concerns and work together to address them.
It is indeed interesting how the book’s selection of themes and areas of interest is both comprehensive and modern. However, each chapter can stand alone while carrying out the text’s central theme or greater narrative. Bob Wekesa sets the tone by advocating for and setting the foundation for an African Policy Framework, implying the need of reaching a consensus on an engagement agenda based on educated knowledge, diplomatic experience, and skill in diverse disciplines. Policy and action planning at the state and non-state levels, as well as bilateral and international levels.
This argument is explored also much later by Sanusha Naidu, who investigates the extent to which US-Africa ties might be reconfigured from bilateral to multilateral cooperation. Notably, the narrative that has been established in the perspective that the US must resume its role in the continent has been rearranged. Arguing that in solidifying Africa policy toward the US, the bilateral lens provides one way to renew the relationship and direct it toward the multilateral framework to develop African initiatives and perspectives. In this sense, Africans will have to take the lead in developing a unified continental policy for engaging the United States in a competitive and evolving international order.
It is also worth mentioning that the authors underscore throughout the book that the subject that will serve to rejuvenate the US-Africa relationship is to strengthen involvement on peace and security, stability, and development.
African Peace and Security Architecture could be a critical tool for stabilizing Africa and advancing economic integration.
While understanding this, Francis Kornegay concentrates on redefining US-African relations, particularly trade interconnection, and argues that the same framework could be applied to peace and security. To advance economic integration within the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA), policy and constituency challenges in successfully implementing the African Union’s (AU) African Peace and Security Architecture (APSA) could be a critical tool for stabilizing Africa’s complex and fragmented inter/intra-state landscape amongst other AU mechanisms.
The writers’ inward-looking attitude to Africa’s strategy toward the United States is another fundamental premise, albeit it is not explicitly stated. Philani Mthembu, for example, issues a warning. It claims that in order to prevent disappointment with the Biden administration, African stakeholders must carefully control their expectations. Expectations must be established based on a methodical study of the opportunities and limits confronting the Biden administration and the Democrats, as well as an appreciation of the limitations of the US political system, particularly with the midterm elections slated for November 2022.
To prevent disappointment, African stakeholders must control expectations . . .
Following this narrative, the author defends South Africa’s importance in the area, even though it is no longer the African Union’s chair. It is also the head of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Organ on Politics, Defense, and Security, as well as the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), which is critical in resolving governance challenges on the continent.
As a result, it will continue to play a key role in bilateral ties with the United States, as well as in organizing how Africa works with the Biden administration on several policy issues in Africa and beyond. Nonetheless, the fact that democracy and governance remain important areas of focus for the Biden administration, as well as the entrenchment of democracy and the strengthening of important democratic structures, South Africa will inspire confidence well for efforts to strengthen and deepen bilateral relations with the US, as well as in the rest of Africa.
This extends the discussion to Gideon Hlamalani Chitanga‘s concerns about the dangers of a US election breakdown in 2020, as well as the repercussions for American democracy promotion and influence in Africa. The writer argues that while the Biden administration should deepen democracy at home to improve US democratic credibility, it may also expand US-Africa ties and gain African support by promoting democracy and transparency through greater African-led democracy promotion. This raises the question of whether Africa is amenable to the promotion of democracy as a direction, consequence, or imposition by the US, which touches on other literatures on the continent, or whether the Biden administration’s efforts at democratic engagement must take place on an equal basis.
US diplomacy remains fractured, motivated mostly by fear, skepticism, and worry over Beijing’s growing role.
While Europe was shaken by Brexit and the rise of right-wing populists, and Donald Trump went out of his way to destroy America’s standing for democratic oversight, proponents of “African democracy” such as Cheesman (2019) demonstrated several African democracy success stories. Countries such as Benin, Botswana, Ghana, Namibia, Mauritius, and Senegal have not only become beacons of political rights and civil liberties but have done so in the face of significant hurdles.
Nonetheless, US diplomacy remains fractured, motivated mostly by fear, skepticism, and worry over Beijing’s role in growing China-Africa relations in a variety of sectors, including trade and economic connections, military-security cooperation, and technology. However, the US should place more emphasis on democracy and less emphasis on China.
Margaret Monyani on the other hand, addressed current issues that are probably critical in the African scene, such as US-Africa collaboration in improving women, peace, and security in Africa. Indicating that the African continent is still plagued by significant political insecurity and wars that continue to harm women and girls. Gender equality is the most important predictor of peace. Inclusion of women as initiators and implementers in peace and security projects enables for the achievement of their human rights. Allowing women at the peace and security table increases the projects’ sustainability and ownership.
Women at the peace and security table increases sustainability and ownership.
Sexual misconduct in the context of conflict not only harms women, but it also hampers broader peace efforts. Calling for Afrocentric Security and Peace, as well as redefinition via an Afrocentric approach as a means of broader women participation in securing peace in the continent while cultivating US-Africa relations in conjunction to this.
Charles Prempeh‘s argument for African agency and human rights is based on an uncommon but equally vital issue. Of course, homosexuality is a sensitive issue in many African nations, with many people framing it as illegal. This chapter was very intriguing to read since the thesis was based on decoupling financial aid from the promotion of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer (LGBTQI+) individuals in the context of establishing US-Africa relations.
Considering this, the author argued that the West must allow Africa’s sexual ethics to progress, as both the West and Africans tactically disincentivize the abuse of homosexuals. Furthermore, the author dispels the Democratic Party of the US precondition of normalizing homosexuality as a criterion for aid, arguing that this will just deprive the continent of much-needed financial support. This prompts the dilemma of whether the accomplishment and or preservation of other people’s human rights are much more vital than others, particularly when framing the discussion around the urgent need for African peace and security within the auspices of Afrocentric agency.
On the one hand, Job Allan Wefwafwa explores a novel topic considering the growing influence of new technology on politics and global desires. The writer advises that the uneven cultural flow between Africa and the US be rectified. Although there are many parallels in terms of social media usage across the two continents, there is an imbalance in the flow of cultural information on social media. Fairness would be achieved if the African continent provided equal access to its culture as the United States does. The debate about the unbalanced flow of social media cultural material relates to the question of who invents most of the technology that underpins social media. It may be claimed that the United States has more innovations and, as a result, has greater cultural impact. On the contrary, Africa, has three times the social capital of the United States.
Fairness would be if Africa provided equal access to its culture as the U.S. does.
Sizwe Rikhotso makes a compelling case, that ties between the US and African state actors have always been on the terms of the US in order to protect its national interests on the continent. Relationships between the US and African governments have been unilateral since the inception of the unipolar world order, in that the US will largely achieve whatever national interests it has with African nations. This is perhaps why authors such as Vallely (2020) write on how philanthropy benefits the rich and essentially the continent has become suspicious of philanthropists.
Prince Mudau argues that despite its creativity and adaptability, philanthropy cannot completely replace or displace government development assistance. As a result, there is room for the US to adopt philanthropic tactics and structure into its official development assistance in order to improve aid delivery in Africa.
It is undoubtedly ambitious, but not impossible, to ask for an African policy framework in relation to the United States. It would contribute immensely to Africa’s rising desire to become a powerful global participant who does not rely on handouts and is a proactive rather than a passive international actor.
This policy framework aims to establish a relationship of equals …
The book provides solutions to the issues it poses and, to some extent, confirms its points. Each chapter has not been found to be prejudiced, but the argument has always been presented considering the extent of the literature in question. If the book’s purpose was to achieve peace and security via the lens of Afrocentric viewpoints on the United States, then this argument was properly addressed. The book is valuable because it highlights the creation of an African policy toward the United States in a unique way. This is a peculiar argument, given that agency is defined as the ability to exercise influence and power in the face of obstacles. That is the ability of a weaker, smaller African state to exercise influence and power on a stronger, larger foreign force from an African perspective.
In the literature on African policy toward the US, African agency is defined as the ability of African actors to gain political, security, and economic benefits from unequal alliances with dominating countries in an uneven international order. This is because, on most occasions where Africa and the United States collaborate, the latter is the primary benefit. This policy framework aims to establish a relationship of equals, in which African agency stems from the beginning of the cooperation, not just from the benefits it has reaped.
References:
Cheeseman. 2019. Democracy in Africa: Success Stories That Have Defied The Odds. https://www.ucpublicaffairs.com/home/2019/7/26/democracy-in-africa-success-stories-that-have-defied-the-odds-by-nic-cheeseman
Vallely, 2020. How philanthropy benefits the super-rich. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/sep/08/how-philanthropy-benefits-the-super-rich
Voanews, 2021. Biden Says ‘America is Back,’ But US Allies Aren’t So Sure. https://www.voanews.com/a/usa_biden-says-america-back-us-allies-arent-so-sure/6207225.html
Washington Post, 2021. For Biden, America is back. But America is also first. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/09/22/biden-america-is-back-america-is-also-first/