Engaging Emerging Powers: Africa's Search for a ‘Common Position’

Abstract

Africa, viewed here as the world's ‘swing continent’, has in the past decade started to interact with emerging market economies in more intense fashion. This represents an advancing of the continent's integration into the global economy on terms more beneficial to the continent's development. However, this phenomenon also represents one of Africa's central strategic challenges; one located within what is widely considered a new ‘scramble for Africa’. In emphasising South–South cooperation and linkages of interdependence between Africa, Asia and the Americas, who is managing whom? Is Africa effectively guiding these new partnering relationships? Or is the continent, in its fragmented disunity, being strategically manipulated by emerging powers, which have well thought-through national interest agendas as they build on their unique comparative advantages in facilitating access to Africa's resources? In answering these questions, emphasis is placed more on challenges than opportunities since the manner in which Africa comes to grips with the challenges will, in many respects, determine and define the opportunities. The problem of Africa arriving at a disciplined and consistent ‘common position’ strategy is not simply one of colonially inherited fragmentation. It is also a problem of how the strategic space of other continents interacts with that fragmentation in a manner that intrudes on Africa's geopolitical and strategic integrity.

Notes

This is an acronym coined by Goldman Sachs in ‘Building Better Global Economic BRICs’, Global Economics Paper, 30 November 2001, p. 19: The section ‘Extension of the analysis to other emerging economies’, contains the following projection on Nigeria: ‘[it] also stands out as having considerable growth potential, not far behind India in terms of projected annual growth, close to Turkey in terms of projected size by 2050 and overtaking Egypt (itself a strong performer in our growth rankings as can be seen from Table 5) and South Africa to become the largest African economy by that date according to these projections’.

For a review of South Africa's leadership aspirations in the African continent, see Adebajo, Adedeji and Landsberg (2007). Nigeria's leadership challenges are discussed in Adebajo and Mustapha (2008).

For ideas around Africa's expectations of the industrialised powers, see Obasanjo (2003); also see Commission for Africa (CfA) (2004).

See: ‘Exercise IBSAMAR 1’, http://www.navy.mil.za/forecastle/080602_ibsamar/article.htm, and Fakir Hassen, ‘IBSA Naval Exercise No Precursor to Treaty—Mukherjee’, Thaindian News, 13 May 2008.

See the NAASP website (http://www.naasp.gov.za/aboutus.html) which describes NAASP's scope of work and structure, including its history extending back to 1955 Bandung conference. The China, India and Japan initiatives, in fact, were represented at Bandung (the India presence being in the form of a India–NEPAD Fund).

Based on interview at the South African Department of Foreign Affairs in April 2008.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Francis A. Kornegay

*Research Associate, Institute for Global Dialogue, Midrand, South Africa. Email: [email protected]

Chris Landsberg

**Head, Department of Politics, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. Email: [email protected]