8/7/2019 Africa and the Changing Balance of International
Power.pdf
1/2
You are here:Chatham House > Research > Africa >
Current projects > Africa and the Changing Balance of
International Power
African states are playing an ever more active role in
international affairs. Increasing numbers of emerging economies
around the world aredeveloping political and economic relations
with African states in pursuit of a number of strategic goals.
Policy-makers in Europe andNorth America have generally been slow
in recognising Africa's changing role, and remain fixated on purely
humanitarian anddevelopmental perspectives.
Chatham House is utilising its strong contacts with governmental
and non-governmental actors across Africa and around the world to
helpthem to understand better these changing dynamics, and the
challenges and opportunities they bring. The foreign policies (or
lack ofthem) of the European Union and it's members, the US and
emerging powers are impartially assessed, including a chapter on US
policy inSub-Saharan Africa in America and a Changed World: A
Question of Leadership. This project considers the policies
themselves, whohas influence in forming them, and reactions to them
in Africa.
The Africa Programme runs several research projects focused on
Asian re-engagement in Africa and results of Asian competition in
Africa.Research on the impact of Asian National Oil Companies in
Angola and Nigeria culminated in a report, Thirst for African Oil
published inAugust 2009. A Chinese language version is now
available also. A working paper on China and Angola was published
by CSIS inWashington DC in March 2008 - Angola and China: A
Pragmatic Partnership.
This work on China builds on research by the Africa Programme on
China in Africa which has been published in The World Today,
theSouth African Journal of International Affairs and Current
History to date. In February 2008, China's Special Envoy on Darfur
gave akeynote address at Chatham House - Darfur and Sino-African
Relations - a sign of our growing engagement with China.
Chatham House is also working on Indian policy towards Africa
building on our 2007 publication of a briefing paper - India in
WestAfrica: A Burgeoning Relationship. In 2008 we published on
India in the African Indian Ocean Rim and co-edited a special issue
of the
South African Journal of International Affairs on India in
Africa, launched in April 2008 to coincide with the first
India-Africa Forumin New Delhi. In April 2010 a major conference
looked at India's modern-day relationship with African countries
and the futureengagement between India and the continent . A report
summarizes the conference.
From 2008 - 2010, we undertook a project to consider
international policy towards Africa and options for improving its
effectiveness inthe post-G8 world. This project was carried out
thanks to the generous support of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation
and a major report,Our Common Strategic Interests: Africa's role in
the Post-G8 World, was published in June 2010 in the run up to the
G8 and G20conferences in Canada, co-hosted with South Korea. The
report argues that African countries are playing a more strategic
role ininternational affairs and that global players which
understand this and develop greater diplomatic and trade relations
with African stateswill be greatly advantaged.
Ahead of the 2010 EU-Africa Summit, we compiled a list of
resources to understand and explain the policy implications of
therelationships between the European Union and the African Union
and their constituent members.
Resources
EU-Africa Summit resourcesNovember 2010
Our Common Strategic Interests: Africa's Role in the Post-G8
WorldChatham House ReportTom Cargill, June 2010
Sub-Saharan Africa: Providing Strategic Vision or
Fire-Fighting?Chapter from, America and a Changed World: A Question
of LeadershipAlex Vines and Tom Cargill, May 2010
Two Years on from the Forum Summit: The Future of Africa-India
EngagementConference Report, April 2010
Thirst for African Oil: Asian National Oil Companies in Nigeria
and AngolaChatham House ReportAlex Vines, Lillian Wong, Markus
Weimer and Indira Campos, August 2009
Options for the EU to Support the African Peace and Security
ArchitectureProgramme PaperAlex Vines and Roger Middleton, June
2008
India's Engagement with the African Indian Ocean Rim
StatesProgramme PaperAlex Vines and Bereni Oruitemeka, April
2008
Angola and China: A Pragmatic PartnershipWorking PaperIndira
Campos and Alex Vines, March 2008
Darfur and Sino-African RelationsTranscript, audio and
videoAmbassador Liu Guijin, Chinese Government Special
Representative on Darfur, February 2008
am House - Research - Africa - Current projects - Africa and the
Ch...
http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/research/africa/current_projects/
1/15/2011 1
