Moving beyond a donor-recipient relationship? Assessing the principle of partnership in the joint Africa–EU strategy

ABSTRACT

The Joint Africa–EU Strategy (JAES, 2007), aimed to break with the traditional donor-recipient relationship between the EU and Africa and to develop a true partnership. This paper investigates whether the JAES has succeeded in this aim. Particularly, it focuses on the principle of equality, defined as a situation where the more powerful partner does not impose its will on the less powerful partner. Empirically, it investigates the thematic partnerships on peace and security and democratic governance and human rights. Based on a review of primary and secondary literature and 32 expert interviews, the paper argues that the EU has overall treated its African counterparts as equal partners in these thematic partnerships, namely by respecting ownership and jointly deciding on what to discuss in the partnership. Nonetheless, divergences based on differences in interests and values have in some cases led to the perception from African partners that the EU did not treat them as equals.

KEYWORDS:

• Africa
• European Union
• peace and security
• democratisation
• partnership

Acknowledgements

This research would not have been possible without the financial and institutional support from the KollegForschergruppe (KFG) ‘The Transformative Power of Europe’. I am particularly grateful to Tanja Börzel and Thomas Risse and to all the participants of the jour fixe at the Freie Universität in Berlin for their support and helpful feedbacks on earlier drafts of this article. I would also like to thank all the interviewees for their time and cooperation and the reviewers for their helpful and constructive comments.

Disclaimer

The information and views set out in this articles are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the European Commission.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Karen Del Biondo received her PhD in Political Science in September 2012 from Ghent University with a thesis on EU democracy promotion in sub-Saharan Africa. She has been a postdoctoral researcher at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law and at the Free University of Berlin and is currently working for the European Commission in Brussels after having worked in development projects in Peru and Malawi. Recent articles were published in the Journal of Common Market Studies, Third World Quarterly, World Development, the Cambridge Review of International Affairs, Global Society and Journal of Development Studies.

Notes

1 Portugal was listed as co-chair but for logistical and practical reasons it was easier to reach German interviewees. Nigeria was also mentioned as co-chair but was noted by other interviewees to have stopped coming to meetings.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Kolleg-Forschergruppe, ‘The Transformative Power of Europe’, a research college at Freie Universität Berlin, funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).