ISSUE 58
Editor’s note: A new vision for Africa?
This special edition of Africa in Fact provides perspectives on wide-ranging Africa-US intersections. The authors were part of the many virtual sessions convened throughout 2020 as webinars became a media platform of choice for a world blasted by a pandemic like no other. The objective is not to merely reflect on what went down but more importantly, how Africa should approach the reigning superpower. The edition takes a "general to the specific" structure, from broad policy offerings to...
In partnership with
Refining African policies towards the US
A call for an African policy framework for its relations with America This article argues the case for an African policy framework with regards to the United States of America, as a strategic...
Rethinking US-African relations: policy and constituency challenges
African-Americans have the potential to shape relations between Africa and the US As the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris administration gets under way, there are important collateral developments that may...
Refining African policies towards the US
A call for an African policy framework for its relations with America This article argues the case for an African policy framework with regards to the United States of America, as a strategic approach to redressing the many areas of asymmetry in...
Rethinking US-African relations: policy and constituency challenges
African-Americans have the potential to shape relations between Africa and the US As the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris administration gets under way, there are important collateral developments that may give momentum to what has been a growing consensus...
Africa is an opportunity, not a problem
Advocacy for a new vision of Africa-US relations Most African countries gained independence in the early 1960s and have struggled to find their...
Agency, human rights and homosexuality
Biden and Africa: contextualising the debate on homosexuality In this article, I discuss the administration of Joseph Robinette Biden Jr, the 46th...
Will Africa return to America’s ambit of tactical influence?
Reimagining US-Africa relations Even before Joe Biden’s presidency could be confirmed by the US Congress, the debates surrounding the renewal of the...
Taming expectations
Foreign policy priorities under Biden: implications for South Africa, Africa and the world One of the major challenges for the United States...
Can we speak of African agency?
Should African states have foreign policy ambitions towards the US? The United States' relations with Africa, like most of its relations with other...
The chance for climate action
Even with smart development support from the US, African governments must improve climate governance The Trump administration, including former...
Africa is an opportunity, not a problem
Advocacy for a new vision of Africa-US relations Most African countries gained independence in the early 1960s and have struggled to find their...
Agency, human rights and homosexuality
Biden and Africa: contextualising the debate on homosexuality In this article, I discuss the administration of Joseph Robinette Biden Jr, the 46th...
Will Africa return to America’s ambit of tactical influence?
Reimagining US-Africa relations Even before Joe Biden’s presidency could be confirmed by the US Congress, the debates surrounding the renewal of the...
Taming expectations
Foreign policy priorities under Biden: implications for South Africa, Africa and the world One of the major challenges for the United States...
From regime change to fostering strong democratic institutions
Implications for American democracy promotion and influence in Africa The 2020 US election meltdown may have dented the role and influence of America as the chief promoter and protector of democratisation in Africa. However, the resilience of US political institutions in the face of immense systemic pressure from the Trump Presidency opens a window of opportunity to how the US can refocus its approach towards Africa....
A new administration in a new political environment
The USA in the Horn of Africa The 9/11 terrorist attack changed the United States security strategy globally. The event took place a decade after the end of the Cold War and before the US and its allies in the West had truly enjoyed the triumph of neoliberalism. Nevertheless, the attack bestowed on the US a new purpose as a global leader: in its view, world states were now either friends or foes, and in extreme cases, were listed as...
Globalised desires
The digital divide between Africa and the US is shrinking fast There is an excitement that comes with one’s Facebook post getting many likes within hours, or with a WhatsApp status that quickly elicits many views and chats. It prompts a nice feeling and temporary addiction to keeping tabs on how many more friends are reacting to the post or status. Social media power is anchored on emotions, and these capitalism-driven technologies...
On the horns of a dilemma
US involvement in Somalia's civil war stimulated its multilateral engagements in the region The United States is a leading player in shaping peace and security interventions in Africa. In the wake of growing multilateralism after the world wars, the US increased its...
Toward new approaches and perspectives
US-Africa security relations As the new United States administration of President Joe Biden embarks on a review of US-Africa relations, it is important to reflect on the security policies that should undergird this relationship. Although both bilateral and...
Educating for economic growth
The axis between learning and economic development Africa’s youthful population may have contributed to the continent’s better fortunes with regard to Covid-19 deaths, but the pandemic has also increased the pressure on governments to deliver jobs and basic public and...
BOOK REVIEWS
National Liberation Movements as Government in Africa
Book Review National Liberation Movements as Government in Africa Edited by Redie Bereketeab Routledge, 2018, Oxford Liberation movements begin as war machines animated by the desire for justice and, if successful, end up as governments clinging on to power. They undergo a transformation into their opposite, morphing into that which they sought to vanquish. Redie Bereketeab has edited a book that looks at 13 examples of this transformation, each author setting out the successes and failures of particular national liberation movements (NLMs) throughout Africa. The chapters are thick with the histories of each NLM, with assessments of their performance as government. Chapters are grouped under four categories as struggles against: European colonialism (Angola, Algeria, Guinea-Bissau,...
Outbreaks, epidemics and the health of Africa
Book review Epidemics and the Health of African Nations published by the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA) 2019 and edited by Zamanzima Mazibuko Epidemics and the Health of African Nations explores Africa’s vulnerability to diseases and ably...
Buried deep within our hearts and never forgotten
Book review Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree by Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani and Viviana Mazza; published by Harper Collins 2018 Buried Beneath the Baobab Tree is the heartbreaking account of a true- life event that happened in the small north-eastern Nigerian town of Chibok....
National Liberation Movements as Government in Africa
Book Review National Liberation Movements as Government in Africa Edited by Redie Bereketeab Routledge, 2018, Oxford Liberation movements begin as war machines animated by the desire for justice and, if successful, end up as governments clinging on to power. They...
Book review
The Political Economy of Energy in Sub-Saharan Africa Edited by Andrew Emmanuel Okem and Lucky E Asuelime. Routledge, London and New York; 2018 In pre-industrial society, one used wood and fire for heat and light, gathering wood from the environment on a more or less...
Senility, a doting mad wife and an indulgence in spies
Book review: In the Jaws of the Crocodile: Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Rise to Power in Zimbabwe. By Ray Ndlovu, Penguin Books, 2018 In the Jaws of the Crocodile is an exciting account of the coup that shuffled Robert Mugabe off his throne so that Emmerson Mnangagwa could...
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