Transcript How do we motivate Katedra members?

Problems of IR in SSA and their
Impact on the Development of the
Continent
Dr. Getnet Tamene, PhD
City University/VŠM
Dec.6, 2006
Basic problems encountering us
when assessing FP&IR of SSA:
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Question of power
Length of existence
Historical conditions that determine political and
Econ. Position of SSA in Intl. System: - this is
approached through classical methods w/c
classify FPocicy from view points of:
- Radicals
- Moderates
- Conservatives, etc.
Political development in SSA b/n
WWII & end of CW,1990
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A period w/c had dominated world politics and IR
For Africa: a period of complex postcolonial African diplomacy and foreign
policy
 Like all nation states they compete among each other to secure
N Interest
Understood In terms of:
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securing Intl. boundaries
political & Econ. needs
changing alliances
diplomatic or armed conflict etc… (standards
reflecting foreign policy)
African environment of IR created
additional aspects beyond the
standards
 inter African relations
 endeavor for political & econ. unity of the
continent
 this endeavor is rooted in PanAfrican
movement of 20 c.
 has been ongoing since the 50s onwards
 associated with the struggle b/n radical and
moderate groups of states and politicians
3 main factors that characterize
foreign policy & IR of SSA
 A. international conflict in SSA countries
 B. ideology and national interest
 C. political determinants…. (Just major ones)
A. Intl. Conflicts in SSA
(Today’s Focus)
 In the geographical and cultural sense IR: F
Policy of so called 3rd World.
 Relates to political and econ. Emancipation
movement of former colonies.
 The culmination of the movmt.: the Bandung Conf.
1955 (India).
 predecessor of the non-aligned movement
 1st Conf. NAM: 1961 (120 countries) with neutral
stand in the face of superpowers domination
Significant Events of 20thc SSA
 Quick emergence of many African states
 instability and vulnerability for intervention
 Instability and intervention underlie the
reason for insecurity of Africa
 Africa’s political independence/nation state
creation is currently understood in a mixed
way: as an event or process which has not
been completed yet.
Foreign intervention makes one and
unmakes the other regime
 Since the time of the Congo crisis 1960,
similar areas have been labeled unstable
artificially for the sake of intervention,
pretext for superpowers to intervene, with
impunity.
 All these without regards to African needs
 During bipolar system it was about to cause
direct confrontation b/n the superpowers.
In 60s F Policy in SSA
- democratic institutions were rapidly
flourishing
- intervention on the other hand helped to
install various forms of dictators and single
party system
- intervention is associated with ideological
and political struggle between the 2 blocs
of the bipolar system
- foreign policy thus became the will of one
person
The outcome of bipolar domination
of SSA in 60s and 70s
 politically and militarily weak Afr. States on
the UN platform struggled against both
superpowers
 This led to the creation of Intl African
organization OAU(1963) as a vehicle of IR
that represents the interest of the whole
continent
The reasons of post colonial
conflicts
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(the 1st one was the pre-colonial conflict
against colonialism)
the 2nd one is non-governmental subjects
wanted to change post-colonial political
status quo for own prospect with open or
covert support of another state, which for
ideological, political or econ. Reasons
need to destabilize the position of his
neighbor.
The main types of conflicts in the
continent are 4
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1.Internal conflict – within individual
countries
2. Conflicts between African states
3. Conflicts between African states and
external powers
4. Conflicts of superpower interest in Africa
by proxy
Internal conflict- feature of
postcolonial Africa – instability
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Reasons why it emerges:
struggle b/n governing and non-governing elite
conflict of interest b/n governing group and
specific interest groups of the society(labor union,
students, peasants, army, religion congregation,
etc.)
ethnic conflict b/n governing ethnic group and the
others
racial conflict b/n white and black, domestic
population and Asian, b/n Arab origin and the
natives, etc.
Conflicts b/n African states
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ideological rivalry…. Eg. Sudan vs Ethiopia
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territorial rivalry……Eg. Nigeria vs
Cameroon, Ethiopia vs Somalia
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personal……….Yoweri Museveni vs
Robert Mugabe
Conflicts between African states and
external powers
 Despite the end of colonialism, conflicts b/n
superpowers and African states still perpetuate
 The idea of new type of colonialism where political
and economic actors of the North exert implicit
power to govern South through the own apparatus
of the South itself….(works to most small states
even different from the South), causing refusal of
this type of domination….
Conflicts of superpower interest in
Africa by proxy
 USA, RUSSA, UK, FRANCE
 China and other less stronger European
powers
 are related with the conflicts in SSA directly
or indirectly through multinational finance,
commercial and industrial organizations
Reflections of SSA F Policy During
and After CW
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During CW African foreign policy in IR
was termed important in the sense that it
resisted both superpowers which used
Africa as sphere of interest
After CW Africa is influenced in 2 ways:
1. politics has become ideologically
similar and less significant
2. the change has not reduced the radicalism
of African politics
During the CW
 African states played in IR environment as nonaligned
movement or ‘3rd power’, with enormous endeavor for Intl.
peace, stability, and justful distribution of income.
 They have contributed to the emergence of a group of
countries known as 77,
 Their 1st Conf. was held 1967 in Algers, their initiative
resulted a document called New Intl Econ Order (NIEO) in
the mid of the 70s,
 this contributed towards avoiding barriers w/c widened
econ gap b/n the rich North and poor South,
 Even after the CW gone, however, the antagonism b/n
living in social poverty and in enormous wealth is rather
deepening.
CW was not Major problem for SSA
 The main task of African states and IR
during CW was:
– building modern/nation states
– generating econ. Development
– creating responsible structure of African unity
capable to govern the whole continent
Problems of Nation State Building in
SSA as Compared to Europe and N
America
 economically limited to raw material suppliers,
they were pushed to a position of price takers
under mechanisms arranged by colonial
metropolis to their own advantages
 politically the new governments had no
administrative experience, they had to encounter
seeds of destabilization related with ethnic, border,
and religious frictions some of which were
orchestrated by former colonizers
The Emergence of Dependency
Theory to Address
Underdevelopment
 The arguments of CW period led in the 60s
and 70s to the creation of the so called
dependency theory, which argued that
former colonizers have changed their
approach from direct presence (imperialism)
to indirect presence (imperialism) or
neocolonialism
Forms of Superpower influence in
CW SSA
Forms of influence of respective superpowers:
 1. Former SU - direct influence
-providing huge # of military advisors
-proxy via Cuban Internationalists
 2. USA – indirect influence
- proxy client regimes
- US foreign policy considers Africa as
marginal
With the demise of the SU client regimes ended on
both sides
Current US-SSA Relations
 USA has more engaged in politics of SSA
 They directly confront with traditional powers
such as France, who owns regional
monopoly in SSA
 Seeking anti-terrorism alliance may be one
reason for the US interest
 Recourses and market may be the other
Dynamics of US-Africa Relations
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The dynamics is understood in Terms of:
US’s reluctance in the face of African nationalists who
are not allowed the full control of their natural resources
US’s failure to create friendly nationalist leaders capable
to generate ‘a third way’ b/n Communism and Rightist
dictators
US’s policies, which have polarized internal political
situation of the countries of the continent
US’s decision to isolate and label as an enemy, at any
cost, all political subjects whose ideology leans towards
socialism – (against self-determination if you are not with
us you’re against us)
US was seen as cultivating colonialism in post cl. SSA
The US Policy in SSA Evoked
Resistance
 resistance of African nationalists against
USA
 hatred from the European side, against
America’s de facto, anti decolonization
pressure – they saw it as the reason for
African radicalism, and that this brought the
Soviets’ penetration into its (Europeans)
commercial and economic sphere.
US’ Policy was Counterproductive in
SSA
 It increased radicalism of part of the elite
and town ship hence created enormous
pressure for change and revolution, causing
something like soviet regime in Africa,
(eg. Ethiopia 1974)
SU-US Positions in SSA,
Comparison
 The position of the former SU was so simple. Its real or
hidden face (mission), as world power, which opposed
capitalist greed, had provided a certain maneuvering room,
particularly at the beginning.
 It had to support its ideological pressure with material aid
as in (Guinea, Ethiopia).
 However, this doesn’t mean all African radical regimes are
subordinate to Kremlin
 The Former SU in Africa in 80s was not better than USA. It
cooperated with the most brutal dictators of Africa, in the
Horn
unfinished struggle vs Containment
 The SU approached Africa as a supporter
for the unfinished struggle in Africa
for freedom,
 where as the US foreign policy approached
Africa to help containing the spread of
Communism, the evil, to Africa.
NATO & PRC the Two other Intl
Powers in SSA
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NATO’s intervening role in SSA ended as Portugal (member) pulled out from
Southern Africa (Angola, Mozambique)
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NATO was under severe critics of SSA states because of its political and
military support to Portugal in attempt to perpetuate colonialism and white
governing
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NATO member countries politically use double standard and largely follow their
econ interest in Africa:
Eg.1. Great Britain in 1960s together with its allies destabilized the
government of Patrick Lumumba supporting the separatists from Katanga, ten
years later again GB stood on the side of Nigerian federal military government
against Biafra.
Eg.2. USA and France were supporting the racist regime of today’s RSA –
but tater on as the apparent change of policy of US in view of SA the US
congress enacted severe econ. Sanction that led to the down fall of Apartheid
and caused regime change (only when the black fighting was at a point of
irreversible)
PRC’s political and diplomatic
ambitions in SSA
 The 1st contact b/n PRC and SSA was made
possible at Bandung Comf (1955)
 Chinese delegates officially started visiting Africa
since the end of 50s.
 The 1st Chinese Embassy was opened in
Khartoum in 1958
 Conakry in 1959
 Accra in 1960
 Mogadishu 1961
Sino-African Cooperation in
Education and Cultural
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Since 1960s China accepted numerous African students into its
universities and technical high schools
 China accused the SU of revisionism and opposed the expansion of
the SU to many African nations (Angola, Mozambique, Namibia,
Ethiopia..)
 Significant visit was that of Prime minister Chou En Lai many African
countries in 1964, condemning the SU for revisionism
 China was successful in Africa in establishing political support in
Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe
 Current Sino-African relations has a different dimension - trade. For
PRC and
Tchaj-wan the voci of African stated in the UN appears to be important.
 Their aid for Africa is a good alternative source and base of competition
with the West
THANK YOU FOR THE ATTENTION