Week 2

Regional International Orders 1:

Africa
• Economic and social challenges
• UN Human Development Report 2016- all but
two of the world’s least developed states are
in the sub-Saharan Africa
• Africa- also has political challenges
• Post-colonial legacy- an important source of
instability -> resulting in many weak states and
vicious political and economic cycles
 States
• 54 sovereign states

• 2 de facto states

• 9 non-self-governing territories ruled by

France, Portugal, Spain and the UK
• A de jure govt is the legitimate, legal government of a state
and is so recognized by other states.
• A de facto govt is in actual possession of authority and
control of the state.
• In other words: De jure means that you say the state legally
exists, regardless of what the real practical context is on the
ground, whereas a de facto state is one that may or may
not legally exist, but for all practical purposes it does.
• For example, if ISIS was to actually form a country, with
borders, guards, a government etc. it may not be
recognised as a state formally by its neighbours (i.e. it wont
be a de jure state) but it may be a de facto state as it does
everything a state usually does.
• Briefly put in the UN Charter, a Non-Self-
Governing Territory is defined as
a Territory “whose people have not yet attained a
full measure of self-government”. In 1946,
several UN Member States identified a number
of Territories under their administration that
were not self-governing and placed them on a
UN list.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDxW2QIscx
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• All of Africa’s states emerged from a process of decolonization
following a period of imperial rule.
• Decolonization- the process by which political actors escape the
authority of an imperial overlord to establish their independence
• Gambia- Smallest country, Gambian nation- 1.8 million people
• Algeria- largest area, 37 million people
• Nigeria- largest population-over 166 million citizens
• Republic of South Africa-largest economy (on the basis of
purchasing power parity i.e. accounting for exchange rate
fluctuations)
• Egypt- largest military
• Often then states are prioritized in terms of power
 Power
• Power- describes a unit’s ability to bend others to its will and to
achieve its goals and aims
• Hard Power- the ability to change actors’ behaviour through the
use of material punishments and rewards
• Costly and effective at motivating others to act (esp. in the short
term)
• “carrot and stick” method
• Soft Power- the ability to wield non-coercive influence such as that
provided by economics and cultural interaction
• Less costly but slow to accumulate
• China’s soft power, such as scholarships, Confucius Institute, and
iconic social infrastructure buildings e.g. stadiums
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfr4PqE3BwU
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VnQONVxWdQ
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfr4PqE3BwU&t=5s
Hard power capabilities:
Egypt, Morocco, Algeria- North Africa
Nigeria- West Africa
Angola, Republic of South Africa- Southern Africa
Uganda and Rwanda- Central Africa
Ethiopia and Eritrea- Horn of Africa
These states have a “hard power” advantage over
their neighbours giving them influence over the
rules of membership and behaviour that defines
Africa’s international order
 Economic terms
• South Africa and Egypt- mixed economies- combination
of manufacturing, services and resource extraction.
• Nigeria, Angola and Libya- revenues generated by
natural resource production (oil and natural gas)
• Resource-based economies are closely integrated into
the global economy
• How is this problematic??
• Most Africa states lack serious/appreciable economic
power at the global stage
• All but 4 African states (RSA, Egypt, Nigeria and Algeria)
• Many African states experience chronic scarcity-
shortages of essential resources and public
goods.
• Which leaves them vulnerable to influence by
other state and non-state actors
• Some become so dependent on foreign actors for
financial support that many observers claim they
are being dominated by neo-colonialism- a new
economic form of imperialism
• Imperialism- state policy, practice, or
advocacy of extending power and dominion,
especially by direct territorial acquisition or by
gaining political and economic control of other
areas (more of an ideology).
• Neo-colonialism-foreign actors use political,
economic and cultural power to affect a
state’s decision-making without imposing its
rule directly
• http://www.ketagalanmedia.com/2017/10/09/how-chinas-soft-
power-is-building-a-neo-colonial-system-in-africa/

• in 2013, Zambia dropped attempted murder charges against two

Chinese nationals who shot 13 Zambian miners after repeated
pressure from the Chinese government. It is also not confined to
Zambia. Chinese nationals have committed crimes across the
continent and been asked to leave African countries rather than
stand trial for their actions.
• an example of neo-colonialism and, ironically, the very same
extraterritoriality which China suffered at the hands of 19th century
Western imperial powers. The Chinese government, using its
economic influence, exerted political control over the situation
while preserving the “outward trappings” of autonomy
 Cultural Power
• E.g. Nigeria’s booming TV and movie industry
give it a wide audience across much of the
continent
• Struggle of South Africa’s black majority
against the white minority rule under the
apartheid system gave it a moral authority
under the leadership of Nelson Mandela
• Globalization- The speeding up of and
deepening of cross-border interactions that
reduce the state’s ability to effectively control
its territory and population
• Cosmopolitanism- the belief in a global
human identity that transcends all civic and
ethnic nationalisms.
 Nations of Africa
• Linguistic:
• Arabic-most of northern Africa
• South of the Sahara desert-languages from
the Niger-Congo group,
• Bantu-speakers in the majority across much of
Central and Southern Africa
• Religion:
• 2 main religions: Islam and Christianity
• Ethnicity:
• Over 100 sizable ethnic groups
• E.g. 100 million Arabs North Africa
• E.g. 100,000 Akus of Gambia
• So many ethnic nationalities that do not align with the political
borders of the 54 African sovereign states
• States add complexity because each of them additionally has an
associated civic nationality
• *recap- civic identities created to unite citizens behind the
government/state.
• How?
• Public education, national celebrations and patriotic symbols
• Religion- ethnic characteristic- imp. in IR in Africa
• Religion plays a key role in shaping and
individual’s ethnic nationality which can be at
odds with the state’s civic identity.
• Religious boundary often used by national and
transnational groups to stoke tensions in states
like Nigeria whose citizens straddle these two
identities.
• E.g. Boko Haram- a militant non-state actor
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSDRF7VG
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• How to counter such divisions within a
country?
• The success of states against these
insurgencies depends on their ability to
construct robust civic nationalities that can
integrate the very ethnic nations that
currently feel alienated from the rest of the
political community
• Recap:
• States- governments
• Nations-groups of people with shared identity
• Countries- geography -> need to know where
events take place in order to understand why
they happen
• Important to pay attention to geographical
features and natural resources
 Important geographical features
• Sahara- largest and hottest desert in the world- 9,400,000 km2- from the
Red Sea to the Atlantic Ocean bisecting Africa at its widest point
• Kalahari desert- southern Africa-covers most of Namibia and Botswana
• Africa is surrounded by 2 oceans- Atlantic Ocean in the West and the
Indian Ocean in the East
• Mediterranean sea in the north
• Rivers- Nile, Congo, Niger and the Limpopo
• Lakes- Lake Chad and Lake Victoria
• The Atlas Mountains
• The Great Rift Valley
• Mount Kilimanjaro- the highest point in Africa
• Sinai peninsula- connects Africa to Eurasia- also home to the Suez Canal
which is a vast shipping link between the Mediterranean Sea and Indian
Ocean.
• Political communities and the states that govern
them are environmentally secure when their
total resource needs (ecological footprint) do not
exceed the resources available to them
• Ecological footprint-
• Environmental insecurity- occurs when
environmental systems are disrupted and the
natural resources on which society depends
(water, arable land, food, clean air, energy,
minerals become scarce)
• Climate change- alteration of the Earth’s atmospheric circulation
and chemistry by human activity is a global phenomenon
• Many African states are “security poor” in environmental terms
• E.g. states along the edges of the Sahara Desert are facing down a
potential environmental catastrophe called desertification
• Desertification- the growth of deserts which engulf and destroy
neighbouring ecosystems. This reduces/shrinks the amount of land
available for agricultural and pastoralism, putting pressure on
economies and states’ resources.
• E.g. all along the Sahel- the grasslands that border the southern
edge of the Sahara- the competition for land and water driven by
climate change has fuelled conflict between national groups.
• E.g. The Nile River-important to African geopolitics
• Links 11 states who share its drainage basin
• Nile- an essential source of water for Egypt and Sudan for
industry, agriculture and domestic use
• Plans by states like Ethiopia to damn and control the river’s
tributaries may constitute a real threat to the security of
the people down the river
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boUXzmeRxC4

• Another e.g. problem of water also being felt in the

Republic of South Africa where Cape Town experienced a
sever drought in 2018 that led to severe water restrictions
and skyrocketing water prices.
 Recap from week 1-Sovereignty
• State’s ability:
• To exercise control over the peoples and
territories it claims to rule
• Defend itself against interference by other states
and foreign actors
• So 2 priorities:
• 1. maintain order within the state- police and
bureaucracy
• 2. maintain independence- diplomats and military
 Recap from week 1: 4 criteria for
Sovereignty
1. Govern over a permanent population
2. Govern over a defined territory
3. Govt. capable of exercising authority over
people and territory
4. Receive recognition from other states and
engage in diplomacy with them
e.g. Islamic State (IS)- not recognised by other
states (and so its sovereignty is not recognised)
and is therefore vulnerable to attack.
 Africa’s international order
• Sovereignty
• Recognise a state’s right to independence from external
control
• And its right to manage its population and territories as it
chooses
• In other words: a state’s right to international autonomy
and domestic hegemony (meaning state has the most
power within the country)
• Autonomy-the right or condition of self-government or
freedom from external control or influence; independence.
• Hegemony- leadership or dominance, especially by one
state or social group over others.
• Non-intervention- states stay out of one
another’s domestic affairs
• Self-determination- states claim authority over
political communities previously controlled by
foreign powers
• Morocco example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwkEDqY93
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• refer to unit 1, section 1.2, para before
conclusion!
 African Union
• https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-
16910745
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTqusIyX
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• For further interest:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PX7LTr3
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