The Changing U.S. - Africa Relations: From Offshore Balancer to Offensive Realism?

Abstract

The inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States was positively received in US and abroad as a welcome opportunity for change. Yet, whether the shift to a more critical tone will translate into a significant change to the substance of US-Africa policy remains a matter of concern. The first-ever U.S. -Africa Leaders' Summit was organized in Washington on August 4-6, 2014. This Summit marks, to a certain extent, a watershed or pivotal moment in U.S. Africa relations. The central question driving this research can be formulated simply as follow: Does the U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit constitutes a part of global policy, a paradigmatic shift in U.S. policy towards Africa or a renewal of the American people commitment to Africa? The first hypothesis sustained by the study is that the U.S. is moving from offshore balancer or “leadership from behind” to a relative offensive realism when it comes to foreign policy framing and implementation in Africa. The second hypothesis is that the U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit and many other elements insert Africa in general, and Sub-Saharan Africa in particular, in the U.S. “grand strategy of transformation” with the objective to maintain U.S. leadership by preventing the hegemonic domination of new great power rivals in Africa. Built on realism, liberalism and alliance theory, the study finds that contrary to high expectations within Africa that the Obama presidency would herald a new age of US-Africa relations, the reality thus far seems to suggest a smart continuity rather than revolutionary change. What is evident is a new, firmer rhetoric rather than a tremendous change from the previous administrations. However, placed within the broader historical context of US-Africa relations, there are many substantive elements characterizing America’s new approach or relative offensive realism based on logistics, intelligence and mostly development and security issues.