Africa quarterly special on emerging powers.pdf - SAFPI

P A R A D I G M S H I F TFormer U.S. President George W. Bush with a group of dancers in Ghana during his visitto the country in 2008. Photo: the.honoluluadvertiser.commanifold, <strong>Africa</strong>n dictators, often in connivance with theirpatrons, had also exploited their country’s wealth for theirown aggrandisement. Things have, however, changed for thebetter, with democracy slowly finding a foothold in thecontinent, making it a better place to do business with.Moreover, in earlier times most relationships between <strong>Africa</strong>and the outside world were bilateral, leading often to a kindof patron-client bond. Today, the institutional framework fordoing business with <strong>Africa</strong> has improved with the creation ofthe AU as well as several multilateral blocs like the CommonMarket for Eastern and Southern <strong>Africa</strong> (COMESA), theEconomic Community of West <strong>Africa</strong>n States (ECOWAS),the East <strong>Africa</strong>n Community (EAC)the Southern <strong>Africa</strong>n DevelopmentCommunity (SADC), to name justa few. Countries are now not onlyinterested in bilateral tie-ups but alsoin multilateral institutional tie-ups.Another trigger has been theexpanding relations of India andChina with <strong>Africa</strong>n states. Since the1990s, the two emerging powershave acted as drivers of growth by providing alternativesources of investment, with attractive terms for the <strong>Africa</strong>ns.China, for instance, has offered a kind of ‘triple whammy’ —arms sales, cancelled debts and soft loans. As a result, Chinahas already cornered some of the best oil prospects in Sudanand Angola, the two countries ravaged by civil war from the1970s through the 1990s, and therefore considered to be toorisky for oil extraction by the major powers [Klare, Volman,2006].The emerging powers are also revealing <strong>Africa</strong>’s economicpotential, because some of the countries have now becomesafer places to invest and trade is increasing between <strong>Africa</strong>nnations and the new powers in <strong>Africa</strong>. The competition fromToday, the institutionalframework for doingbusiness with <strong>Africa</strong> hasimproved with the creationof the AU as well as theseveral multilateral blocsthese countries has shaken the majorpowers and they are now becomingaggressive in their efforts to outbid theemerging nations and promote their owneconomic interests in <strong>Africa</strong>. In short, theyhave woken up to the fact that <strong>Africa</strong> is nolonger their backyard, where aid could winthem ‘everlasting’ allies, and their only taskwas to keep these allies in power in orderto get the kind of deals that they wanted.The U.S. and africaSo far as the U.S. is concerned, itshould be noted that during the Cold Waryears, it had hardly any kind of <strong>special</strong>relations with any Sub-Saharan <strong>Africa</strong>nstate except for South <strong>Africa</strong>. It did,however, have a patron-client relationshipwith several states, such as Somalia andEthiopia under Emperor Haile Selassie inthe 1970s, in areas where it had geostrategic Cold Warinterests. In fact, it was the East-West rivalry that motivatedmany of its interventions in <strong>Africa</strong>, for instance, throughproxy forces in Angola [Baptiste, 2005]. Mineral wealth andCold War interests prompted the U.S. to develop a <strong>special</strong>relationship with South <strong>Africa</strong>. This was, to some degree,responsible for the perpetuation of apartheid at a time whenmost other countries had no relations with that country.The fact that <strong>Africa</strong> was of little interest to America isevident from the lack of any high-level visits to that continent.Although the U.S. had set up a Bureau of <strong>Africa</strong>n Affairswithin the State Department in 1958, the first state visit by anAmerican president to Sub-Saharan<strong>Africa</strong> was 20 years later in 1978when president Jimmy Cartervisited Nigeria and Liberia. The nextstate visit came 29 years later in 1998,when president Bill Clinton paid abrief visit to <strong>Africa</strong>. The year 1998was a turning point because the U.S.embassies in Kenya and Tanzaniawere bombed that year. From 1999,the beginning of some kind of engagement, particularly inpublic diplomacy and trade, can be observed. The same year,the U.S. Congress passed the <strong>Africa</strong>n Growth andOpportunity Act (AGOA) to spur exports to the U.S. from<strong>Africa</strong>. The fact that this Act was passed following thebombing incidents is significant.There was more activity during the presidency of GeorgeW. Bush, who visited the continent twice, once in 2003 andthe second time in 2008. There were also attempts atpromoting sustainable development, particularly throughmultilateral fora like G-8 summits and the World EconomicForum at Davos. The American interest, however, also hada security angle. What is e<strong>special</strong>ly significant is the announce-30August 2011-January 2012