3.3 Debates on great powers and Africa

The case study on Africa involves numerous debates on great power competition with two of the most important focusing on what drives great power competition in Africa and who benefits from it.

External factors’ influence versus African agency is a main debate on what drives competition in Africa:

• External factors: Great power competition is driven by the rise of China as an economic and political power. Many see China’s rise as a global power, with its need for resources like oil, copper, and cobalt, as the main catalyst. This has led China to invest heavily in African countries, providing aid, loans, and trade in return for resources.
• African agency: The role of African states in pursuing new relations with rising powers such as China is a key area of debate. African states benefit from China’s ‘no strings attached’ stance and have found ways to leverage competition among great powers to expand partnerships and gain influence.

The answer to the first question, as who is driving change, leads on to a second debate about who benefits from this competition. To address this debate, you will explore some of the ‘issue’ categories discussed in the previous section:

• Economic impact: Chinese investment has contributed to economic growth in many African countries, but concerns arise over resource exploitation without local communities gaining substantial benefit. African resources often being processed abroad, may lead to limited local industry growth, and cheap imports that negatively influence African businesses.
• Political impact: Great power competition gives African states new diplomatic options, but it also has mixed results for local governance. For example, China’s ‘non-interference’ stance can support authoritarian regimes.
• Military impact: Military debates include whether the increase in great power competition fuels, or prevents, rising conflict. Some African coups (e.g. in Niger, Mali, Sudan, Guinea and Chad) in the 2020s have caused concern over external influences like Russia’s Wagner Group, which is thought to contribute to instability.

The interaction of these debates also shows how African countries have the potential to be not just passive players but actively shape global competition. Audio 1 in the next activity can help you better understand the various debates in international relations. It presents a discussion between two specialists in Africa’s international relations. Both experts, Dr Frangton Chiyemura and Dr Folashadé Soulé, explore the roles that African states have played in driving great power involvement in the continent, some of the benefits and pitfalls facing African states in their relations with great powers and why it is important to consider different points of view in international relations.

Activity 5

Allow about 1 hour

Listen to the audio.

Audio 1 Africa’s influence

Transcript

The audio discussion offered some additional insights into two of the questions posed: what is driving great power competition and who benefits from it?

Having listened to the audio can you:

• identify some key benefits African countries may gain from great power competition?
• identify some of the actions Folashadé and Frangton say that African states could take to increase benefits from great power competition?

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Discussion

Some of the key benefits mentioned are: benefits to economic development that African states might gain by ‘diversifying’ their development partners. A number of examples are mentioned: Rwanda negotiating with a variety of external aid donors over development projects; Kenya’s development of economic ties with China alongside its maintenance of long-standing security cooperation with the United States; and Zimbabwe’s diplomacy.

Some suggested possible actions include that African governments need to take notice of the views and wishes of their domestic populations and electorates. Frangton revisits the case of Zimbabwe and the opportunity African states have to play great powers off against each other.