African Agency to Shape

Post-COVID Multipolar World

African governments need to coordinate and leverage the power of their collective voice to
garner sustained support and influence global governance systems.

EXPERT COMMENT 22 OCTOBER 2020 2 MINUTE READ

Elizabeth Donnelly Eliz

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Former Deputy Director, Africa Programme
 Elizabeth Sidiropoulos
Chief Executive, South African Institute of
International Affairs

African agency and influence in international affairs have been on the rise over the past decade, both at
a continental level and bilaterally, growing together with improvements in peace and stability,
development outcomes and governance capacity.

Africa was quick to mobilize for a response to COVID-19, weeks before it was declared a pandemic:
the first meeting of health ministers regarding the coronavirus was held in February, before the
continent’s first recorded case.

This was followed by finance ministers’ meetings – aided by the United Nations Economic
Commission for Africa – to discuss the fiscal space to deal with the pandemic, coordinate a position in
the G20 and create the African Union COVID-19 Response Fund.

Solidarity has been the watchword of African governments in their international messaging in relation
to COVID-19: African leaders have been prominent among those calling for global 

leadership , collective political will and coordination through

multilateral agencies .
This is because they know that however well they coordinate among themselves, their countries remain
vulnerable to external shocks and the vagaries – and at times viciousness – of competition among more
powerful nations.

What is more, the looming coronavirus-induced recession and the pandemic’s intensification of pre-
existing challenges – relating to governance, development, conflict and the environment – are depleting
Africa’s already stretched resources and capacity. Many were already battling domestic distraction and
this is set to worsen.

Smarter collective bargaining

African governments will therefore need to be even smarter about exerting their influence –
prioritizing, network-building, agenda-setting, innovating, problem-solving and ensuring interests are
framed in terms of the collective rather than the bilateral.

For African countries to both recover and also achieve meaningful socio-economic transformation they
will need to be able to influence global governance systems to shape rules and norms to their benefit.

If they do not work effectively through multilateral institutions their interests may be under- or
misrepresented; if they act bilaterally they are less likely to effect long-term change in the imbalance of
decision-making power.

Collective efforts already have a track record of success. Africa’s collective agency helped achieve a
Common African Position (CAP) on the post-2015 Development 

Agenda  – in particular on SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong

institutions) – as well as the CAP that strengthened governments’ influence in the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiations that led to the Paris Agreement.

African states have also worked with the OECD on profit shifting and tax avoidance and have
coordinated inputs to the G20 via South Africa, the continent’s only G20 member.
As the co-chair of the G20 Development Working Group for 10 years, South Africa has been able to
shape an action plan encompassing infrastructure, education, human resources, agriculture and trade –
all issues crucial to Africa.

African actors have also been successful in shaping the agenda by focusing on issues where African
interests overlap with those of other G20 countries. The April 2020 agreement by the G20 and the
Paris Club on a debt moratorium for 77 of the world’s poorest countries is an example of such a
confluence of interests, and one that may also generate positive ripple effects as China comes under
growing pressure to provide debt relief and greater transparency on its lending.

The increasing visibility of African leaders and experts in international organizations has also served to
bring African narratives and interests into the mainstream. Should Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the
remaining African candidate, become the next director-general of the World Trade Organization, the
‘glass ceiling’ on leading one of the world’s key economic organizations would be shattered.

Risks and opportunities of

multipolarity
Global rivalries have intensified during the pandemic, threatening the collective influence of African
countries in multilateral institutions and putting Africa at risk of being pulled into a tug-of-war between
the US and China.

But emerging global multipolarity has also created opportunities, notably for African states to diversify
their external relations. It is likely that smaller, emerging powers will share more of Africa’s perspectives
and preoccupations than established donors and investors, perhaps offering more fruitful partnerships
over time.

Some African countries will always be more susceptible to external persuasion and individual countries
will inevitably pursue their own interests – it is near impossible to keep 55 countries to the same script.
However, these are extraordinary times which offer a huge opportunity to drive sustainable
international change.

African actors need to keep pushing for a seat at the table and a voice in shaping the agenda. The
COVID-19 crisis will continue to erode resources and capacity, making coalition-building, coordination
and a strategic division of labour among African states vital to avoid undermining of collective African
agency.

This article is part of a series on African agency in international affairs.