Great Powers and US Foreign Policy towards Africa

204 Pages·2019·1.98 MB·English

by  Stephen M. Magu

Great Powers and US Foreign
Policy towards Africa
Stephen M. Magu
Great Powers and US Foreign Policy towards Africa
Stephen M. Magu
Great Powers and
US Foreign Policy
towards Africa
Stephen M. Magu
Political Science
Hampton University
Hampton, VA, USA
ISBN 978-3-319-94095-3 ISBN 978-3-319-94096-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94096-0
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018949040
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This book is dedicated to Mary Wanjiku, my mom, for always having my back,
prayers, being the rock, the foundation; and for keeping me grounded.
To Gideon, Lydiah, Grace and all your children (all my children).
You rock.
To my many nephews and nieces, for the joy you have wrought, even through
my prolonged absences; and my many cousins, especially Muhindi Kariuki
and Wambui Kariuki; and to all those that
Mr. James Magu calls his children.
To Hon. Kwenya wa Thuku. For being a true “Servant Leader.” And to all
that hope for and aspire to better relations between Africa and its friends
(and sometimes foes) abroad.
P
reface
Great Powers and US Foreign Policy towards Africa stemmed from a doc-
toral class project at Old Dominion University, under the tutelage of one
of the brightest minds and most accomplished scholars in international
studies (foreign policy) I have ever met, Dr. Simon Serfaty. Although
the project did not ultimately result in a dissertation, and was shelved
for a few more semesters, when I returned to re-read it, much after the
several unilateral and multilateral foreign policy, such as the debacle
of the ill-advised NATO actions in Libya, it was with some hindsight.
The resurgence in my interest in the project was not solely informed by
the actions of NATO and the outcomes in Libya: Kenya had, by now,
embarked on its own mis/adventure in the neighboring Somalia. Surely,
somewhere in the halls of Kenya’s State House, there was some foreign
policy guru, churning through tomes of Kissinger and Kennanesque wis-
dom. That they were crafting Kenya’s well-thought out foreign policy
for Somalia, complete with plans for intervention, goals, projected out-
comes, expenses, public polls to gauge support (or opposition to), car-
rying out a cost-benefit analysis and ultimately deciding on the unrivaled
wisdom of intervention.
This gave some direction to the more visible power on the horizon:
the United States, its foreign policy for Somalia (is there one?), the start-
stops in its dealings with the region, which further evoked memories of
wars (Ogaden, Shifta) etc. It occurred to me that there is perhaps no
US foreign policy for Somalia, or Kenya, or the other 51 countries (save
vii
viii PrEFACE
for Egypt, which benefits from US military largesse, given the 1978
Camp David accords and its peace treaty with Israel). So, there was
Archimedes, and the Eureka moment: what is the US foreign policy for
Africa? Is there a US foreign policy for Africa? If not, why? This led to a
second question; more pertinent: what is China doing in Africa? Are the
Chinese the new imperialists, or are they development partners, stepping
into the development-funding gap that has been gaping ever since the
Kenya-Uganda railway, the so aptly-named “Lunatic Express”, complete
with its Man Eaters of Tsavo, reached the shores of Lake Victoria?
Great Powers and US Foreign Policy towards Africa is a non-fiction
work, easy to read, and easy to arrive at the absence of a coherent for-
eign policy for Africa. This absence is not only to be found in US foreign
policy. Many current and former Great Powers (which now do, or have
in the past included russia, USSr, Great Britain/United Kingdom,
France, The Netherlands, Spain, Portugal) have no clue what to do with,
or about, Africa. This is particularly true of that part that resembles the
horn, jutting towards the red Sea and Arabia; the now-failed state of
Somalia, which has brought back to life the proposition represented in
the Johnny Depp movies, Pirates of ~.
Because the United States is a superpower, a hyperpower, a hegemon,
the book focuses quite a bit on US foreign policy and general rela-
tionship, and historical connections between the land of the free, that
enslaved millions of Africans, later freed them as (African) Americans and
attempted to ship (at least some of them) back to Liberia. It also banned
all the other Africans from entering the country most of the twentieth
century, and then suddenly discovered that there was a continent, com-
prising of 22% of the world’s land mass, that was about to become free
from colonialism. Also, that the much disliked communists who lived in
the land of bears and ice, Soviets, were interested in that continent of
Africa (they weren’t, at any extent outside of thwarting western expan-
sion), and that the United States needed to prevent them, so the Peace
Corps program was born, sending a bunch of mostly urban, graduating
kids to teach African farmers how to farm… Then the volunteers got
asked about that whole concept of “separate but equal” that looked sus-
piciously like the conditions of colonialism, and way down south, like
apartheid…
In one moment of absolute brilliance, wiping away Africa’s 500
year, terrible, horrible, no-good history with the United States, those
Americans elected Obama, the first Kenyan president of the United
PrEFACE ix
States, who then shunned Kenya for a while, until he could not. Then
they elected another president who called Africa/ns and Haiti “shithole
countries” because they were not Norwegians, and all that left all those
Africans feeling as though the United States had no interest in, nor for-
eign policy strategy towards Africa. Neither did the other major powers,
including those former colonists, Brazil, India, China or Indonesia.
Hampton, USA Stephen M. Magu
a
cknowledgements
Dr. Simon Serfaty’s teaching and scholarship was especially i nstrumental,
and pushed this research to become more than it was ever going to be.
Dr. David Earnest mentored me through the competing ideas for the dis-
sertation, and was always an outstanding mentor. Dr. Omar E. Hawthorne
has always been such a keen thinker, and has helped me conspire to
aspire to contribute to the question of Africa’s foreign policy, to excel,
to write books and teach. Dr. Karp and Prof. Karp: your assistance from
across the water, during those drop-in sessions, training, support (and
some venting); your assistance is acknowledged. My colleagues and stu-
dents at ODU, at regent and at Hampton University: Your contribu-
tions, discussions, insight and critiques are invaluable. I also thank Katelyn
Zingg, Editorial Assistant at Palgrave, for working tirelessly, with dedica-
tion, through challenging circumstances while I was in Kenya, on ensur-
ing that the manuscript met the very highest standards of Palgrave and
the Academy, and to hopefully work with her someday in the future on
another book.
xi
c
ontents
1 Introduction 1
2 Order (and Disorder) in World Order 13
3 Great Powers, International Order and Stability:
Transformation? 33
4 A Brief History of US–Africa Relations: To 1990 55
5 Post-Colonialism, Europe and Africa: Changing
Policyscapes 87
6 Detour: The BRICs and New Directions in Africa
Foreign Policy 113
7 Tunnel’s End: A Light, or an Oncoming Train?
US-Africa Foreign Policy Since 2000 143
8 Great Powers and US Foreign Policy Towards Africa 171
Index 187
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