THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN'S FOREIGN POLICY AND CONSTRUCTION JIHAD'S DEVELOPMENTAL ACTIVITIES IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

This doctoral research project explores avenues to research ethically defined foreign policy differently, i.e. in ways that more systematically account for its counterproductive elements. Building on the specific case of the European Union’s foreign policy in sub-Saharan Africa, embodied by the 2000 Cotonou Agreement and the 2007 Joint Africa-EU Strategy, through four papers and one books review, the study firstly develops the Ethical Intervener Europe analytical framework to account for the embedded problematics in the EU’s ethical foreign policy. Secondly, through an eclectic theoretical approach, the study seeks to theoretically pin-point some alternatives to think about ethical foreign policy and finally, looks to concretize it through its application on the case of relative autonomous peace- and state-building in Somaliland. This research report briefly introduces the different findings and addresses the need for further research in view of a decolonial approach to the study of ethical foreign policy in a context of structural inequality.

This doctoral research project explores avenues to research ethically defined foreign policy differently, i.e. in ways that more systematically account for its counterproductive elements. Building on the specific case of the European Union’s foreign policy in sub-Saharan Africa, embodied by the 2000 Cotonou Agreement and the 2007 Joint Africa-EU Strategy, through four papers and one books review, the study firstly develops the Ethical Intervener Europe analytical framework to account for the embedded problematics in the EU’s ethical foreign policy. Secondly, through an eclectic theoretical approach, the study seeks to theoretically pin-point some alternatives to think about ethical foreign policy and finally, looks to concretize it through its application on the case of relative autonomous peace- and state-building in Somaliland. This research report briefly introduces the different findings and addresses the need for further research in view of a decolonial approach to the study of ethical foreign policy in a context of structural inequality. Key words: ethical foreign policy, (humanitarian) interventions, EU, sub-Saharan Africa, Somaliland, decoloniality, democratization, state-building

A New Direction for U.S. Foreign Policy in Africa Zachariah Mampilly (bio) and Jason Stearns (bio) President Trump's approach to Africa rightly elicits outrage. His conception of the continent ranges from disinterest—he has only mentioned it three times out of around 20,000 tweets—to outright contempt, such as when he referred to African nations as "shithole countries." For eighteen months, the office of the assistant secretary of state for African affairs was empty or occupied by a temporary official. Almost two years into his administration, there was no ambassador deployed to twenty of Africa's fifty-four countries. Trump has only met with two heads of state from sub-Saharan Africa in the White House. He has proposed large budget cuts for humanitarian funding—including for the flagship President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and UN peacekeeping operations—although these attempts were mostly foiled by bipartisan efforts in Congress. In January, he extended his travel ban to four additional African countries, including Nigeria, the continent's most populous nation and its largest economy, affecting nearly a quarter of the 1.3 billion people on the continent. Appearances, however, are deceptive. While Trump's Africa policy may seem to be a departure, its broad contours have changed little from recent administrations. Since the end of the Cold War, both Republican and Democratic administrations have embraced a mixture of military intervention, free trade, and humanitarian aid on the continent. As a result, Washington has often ended up backing authoritarian regimes, all the while halfheartedly projecting democratic values. Meanwhile, the continent is undergoing transformative changes. Much like Latin America during the 2000s, many African countries once drawn into the U.S. orbit are drifting out of it. With COVID-19 threatening to destabilize African economies and political systems, now is the time for a progressive reset in relations with the continent: a new foreign policy, centered on economic justice and the democratic aspirations of African youth. With the presidential election looming and Joe Biden, the Democratic Party nominee, expected to place Obama-era stalwarts such as Susan Rice and Samantha Power in top foreign policy positions if he wins [End Page 107] Click for larger view View full resolution A Nigerien soldier wearing a U.S. military uniform waits during a training exercise in 2004 in Samara, Niger. (Jacob Silberberg/Getty Images) [End Page 108] in November, progressives must push for a new direction for U.S.–Africa relations or risk entrenching the problematic policies of the past. Beneath the Turmoil, Continuity U.S. foreign policy in Africa has its roots in the Cold War, when it was dominated by fears of communist encroachment. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the continent was viewed as peripheral to core U.S. interests. As a 1995 Defense Department assessment summarized, "Ultimately we see very little traditional strategic interest in Africa." The same dismissive attitude held in the economic sphere. By 2017, exports to the continent stood at just above 1 percent of the U.S. total and direct investment by U.S. companies was even lower. Disengagement was also spurred by missteps and the thorny realities of local politics. In 1993, the deployment of Army Rangers to Somalia in support of a UN peacekeeping intervention ended when eighteen U.S. soldiers were killed and some of their mutilated bodies were dragged through the streets of Mogadishu. This influenced Bill Clinton's refusal to back a more robust UN engagement to prevent the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. His administration instead enthusiastically supported a new generation of rebels-turned-rulers in Rwanda, Uganda, and Ethiopia, only to see them entrench themselves as authoritarian leaders. This trend of opportunistically backing authoritarian regimes solidified after 9/11, when African countries came to be key, albeit secondary, battlegrounds in the global War on Terror. During the 2000s, several militant groups emerged on the continent that were eventually designated as errorist organizations by the Bush and Obama administrations, including the predecessors of al Shabaab in Somalia and al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in the Sahel. In 2002, to combat this perceived threat, the United States set up the Combined Joint Task Force...

Contents: Introduction: the role of ideas, theory and model of public policy process in Africa, Kelechi A. Kalu Theoretical and Analytical Issues in Policy Making and Management in Africa: Public policy and the African environment: an examination of the theory and practice of the planning process on the continent, Valentine Udoh James The state, macroeconomic performance and development in Africa, John Mukum Mbaku Agenda setting: domestic and foreign policy in Africa, Kelechi A. Kalu Public sector management policies in Sub-Saharan Africa, Robert Dibie From the margins to the center: ICTs as tools for development, Patience Idaraesit Akpan-Obong. Case Studies and Issues of Public Policy in Africa: Social factors relating to maternal mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa, Cynthia Theresa Cook The role of women in Africa's economic development, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Andrea Merrick Privatization policy, challenges and prospect(s) for sustainable development in Nigeria, Robert Dibie Cameroon's endangered environment: economic policy and forest loss, Moses K. Tesi The role of Non Governmetal Organizations in public policy in Africa, Andrew I. Ewoh Reconstructing the State: constitutionalism as public policy in Africa, Julius O. Ihonvbere Index.

In the three decades since the end of apartheid, South Africa's foreign policy has aimed to maintain friendly relationships with countries in the Global North, while also fostering economic ties with nations in the Global South. Additionally, it has sought to normalize and strengthen relations with African countries, particularly those in Southern Africa. There is a growing consensus among scholars that since the presidencies of Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki, South Africa's foreign policy has entered a crisis phase, characterized by a greater emphasis on aligning foreign policy with the country's economic needs and a decline in proactive initiatives within Africa. Drawing on archival sources, official South African government documents, and extensive secondary literature this essay explores the evolution of South Africa's foreign policy in the post-apartheid era and highlights the continuities and changes under various presidencies over the past thirty years. Contrary to much recent literature, this analysis suggests that the foundations of South Africa's post-apartheid foreign policy were established by Mandela and Mbeki. Subsequent leaders, Jacob Zuma and Cyril Ramaphosa, have continued to follow a path that was already laid out. While South Africa is currently an influential voice in the Global South, its foreign policy reveals significant contradictions. First, Pretoria has not yet ensured that its foreign policy contributes to a more inclusive model of economic development, both domestically and globally. Second, it remains unclear how South Africa intends to promote security in Africa without a strong commitment to strengthening democratic institutions.

This article has as its objective an analysis of South Africa's foreign policy towards Africa under the presidency of Thabo Mbeki, South Africa's second democracy-era president. It examines the evolution of South Africa's foreign policy towards Africa in the context of President Mandela's term in office, and proceeds to discuss the pursuit of Africa-first interests by Mbeki in the context of domestic constraints. The main methodology to be employed is that of content analysis. The analysis proceeds on three levels: structural, ideological and personal.

The political and economic debacle in Zimbabwe has led to a large-scale influx of Zimbabweans into neighbouring South Africa. This article argues that there is a complex and significant link between the domestic response to this immigration influx and South Africa's foreign policy towards Zimbabwe. South Africa's foreign and security policy elite preferred to use an immigration approach of benign neglect as a tool to promote its ‘quiet diplomacy’ approach towards the Zimbabwean regime, treating the influx as a ‘non-problem’. But increased xenophobic violence, vigilantism and protests in townships and informal settlements against Zimbabwean and other African immigrants, culminating in widespread riots across the country in 2008, contributed to a change not only in immigration policy but also in the mediation efforts towards the Zimbabwean parties. I argue that this foreign policy change was pushed by a process of ‘securitisation from below’, where the understanding of Zimbabwean immigrants as a security threat were promoted not by traditional security elites but by South Africa's marginalised urban poor.

This paper attempts to address the ambiguity so frequently highlighted in South Africa's post-apartheid foreign policy. Three central arguments are put forward. Firstly, it is argued that traditional accounts of South Africa's foreign policy, utilizing rationalist or ‘mainstream’ theories of International Relations, are insufficient in themselves to explain the complexities inherent in the country's foreign policy. In this regard, constructivist IR theory offers several key insights into studies of South Africa's foreign policy. Secondly, although it is argued that constructivism, particularly its focus on identity, is crucial to understanding South African foreign policy, it alone cannot sufficiently explain its reception or results on the world stage. Finally, it is argued that in order to fully appreciate both the nature and effects of South Africa's foreign policy, a mixed focus, incorporating insights from both constructivist and materialist-based theories of IR, is necessary.

its actual substantial assistance to corrupt and repressive regimes. In the same vein, the lack of special focus on U.S. economic interests as a motivating factor of foreign policy in Africa, particularly as regards South Africa, tends to diminish the significance of this volume. NA TO, the Warsaw Pact and Africa not only offers a 'study of NATO's involvement in Africa from the date of its inception', but also attempts to 'lay to rest some of the more doubtful claims of NATO collusion with South Africa', as well as to 'highlight what many African states have identified as a quite different challenge from the Warsaw pact' (p. xi). Christopher Coker first of all identifies the basic events and processes that have shaped western strategic thinking and planning in Africa since I 949, and traces N.A.T.O.'s concerns to the perception in the West that Soviet expansionism must be opposed. He discusses the differences in approach and policy among the western powers, as well as the problems engendered by decolonisation in Africa which have rendered their strategic planning and activities ever more elusive and uncertain. In addition, Coker examines the Warsaw Pact involvement in Africa since 1959, and focuses on attempts to gain and maintain a foothold in Southern Africa. He discusses the economic importance of Africa to Eastern Europe, as well as the problems and uncertainties faced in trying to maintain stable client-states which could facilitate long-term trade arrangements for the export of raw materials to the member-states of the Warsaw Pact. Finally, the author examines the activities of the Western Alliance and the Soviet challenge to its influence in postindependence Africa. This book is a welcome addition to the growing body of literature on western and eastern foreign policies in Africa, and should prove useful to all those who are interested in a critical understanding of the roots and current status of East-West competition in the continent. Particularly important is Coker's critical analysis of the mechanisms employed by the Soviet Union and its allies to maintain an uninterrupted flow of raw materials from client-states in Africa. One major shortcoming, however, appears to be the author's inability to use the wealth of data and analysis to examine the long-term implications of such competing foreign policies. Those who read this serious study may wonder if Africa will forever remain a victim in the East-West struggle for strategic dominance and economic exploitation.

its actual substantial assistance to corrupt and repressive regimes. In the same vein, the lack of special focus on U.S. economic interests as a motivating factor of foreign policy in Africa, particularly as regards South Africa, tends to diminish the significance of this volume. NA TO, the Warsaw Pact and Africa not only offers a 'study of NATO's involvement in Africa from the date of its inception', but also attempts to 'lay to rest some of the more doubtful claims of NATO collusion with South Africa', as well as to 'highlight what many African states have identified as a quite different challenge from the Warsaw pact' (p. xi). Christopher Coker first of all identifies the basic events and processes that have shaped western strategic thinking and planning in Africa since I 949, and traces N.A.T.O.'s concerns to the perception in the West that Soviet expansionism must be opposed. He discusses the differences in approach and policy among the western powers, as well as the problems engendered by decolonisation in Africa which have rendered their strategic planning and activities ever more elusive and uncertain. In addition, Coker examines the Warsaw Pact involvement in Africa since 1959, and focuses on attempts to gain and maintain a foothold in Southern Africa. He discusses the economic importance of Africa to Eastern Europe, as well as the problems and uncertainties faced in trying to maintain stable client-states which could facilitate long-term trade arrangements for the export of raw materials to the member-states of the Warsaw Pact. Finally, the author examines the activities of the Western Alliance and the Soviet challenge to its influence in postindependence Africa. This book is a welcome addition to the growing body of literature on western and eastern foreign policies in Africa, and should prove useful to all those who are interested in a critical understanding of the roots and current status of East-West competition in the continent. Particularly important is Coker's critical analysis of the mechanisms employed by the Soviet Union and its allies to maintain an uninterrupted flow of raw materials from client-states in Africa. One major shortcoming, however, appears to be the author's inability to use the wealth of data and analysis to examine the long-term implications of such competing foreign policies. Those who read this serious study may wonder if Africa will forever remain a victim in the East-West struggle for strategic dominance and economic exploitation.

Since the end of the 1990s, Africa has seen an increasing number of migrants of Chinese origin. It is possible to differentiate between three types of Chinese migration: a temporary labor migration flow linked to public building works and infrastructure projects undertaken by big Chinese enterprises; an entrepreneurial migration flow made up of merchants native to mainland China some of whom coming from the different diaspora communities; a proletarian transit migration flow consisting of people trying to sell their labor in western countries while waiting in Africa for opportunities to enter those countries. Over the same period, the foreign relations between China and Africa have expanded. There are roughly three elements in Chinese policy toward the continent: to gain access to natural resources such as oil and minerals, to widen China's export market and to strengthen China's diplomatic support for different international organizations. The objectives are to ensure the economic growth of the PRC and widen its political influence. This article aims to put in perspective the recent developments in Chinese migration and the orientations of China's foreign policy in Africa, and to re-address the question of relations between China and the Chinese overseas.

France and Morocco have long maintained close relations. These relations have historically led them to be stable allies in defending their respective interests in Africa. However, this relationship has undergone profound changes over the past twenty years. While France was experiencing a period of slowdown in its African policy, Morocco, on the contrary, was part of an emerging dynamic leading it to rediscover its potential footprint and influence on the continent. The intersection of these two geopolitical representations has thus significantly modified both French and Moroccan African policy and their respective relations. This article analyses the evolution of the mutual perception of these two countries through the conduct of their foreign policies in Africa.

This chapter examines US foreign policy in Africa. It first considers the United States’ historical engagement with Africa, particularly during the Cold War era that saw the intensification of US–Soviet Union superpower rivalry, before discussing the rise of a New World Order in the immediate post–Cold War period that held out the possibility of positive US involvement in Africa. It then explores the United States’ adoption of a more realist approach after Somalia, as well as its renewal of limited engagement between 1996 and 2001. It also analyzes US policy towards Africa after 9/11, with emphasis on President George W. Bush’s efforts to incorporate Africa into Washington’s global strategic network as part of the new war on terror, as compared to the approach of the Obama administration calling for political transformation in Africa.

This chapter examines the historical evolution of U.S. foreign policy in Africa. It first considers the history of U.S.–Africa relations, particularly during the Cold War era of U.S.–Soviet Union superpower rivalry. It then turns to the immediate post-Cold War era, in which a New World Order — a vision in which the United States and the United Nations could combine to establish freedom and respect for all nations — held out the possibility of positive U.S. involvement in Africa. It also discusses American policy towards Africa after 9/11, focusing on President George W. Bush’s efforts to incorporate Africa into Washington’s global strategic network as part of the new war on terror. The chapter concludes with an assessment of Barack Obama’s peace diplomacy as an approach to the civil war in Sudan.

In recent years, Ukraine’s diplomatic efforts to develop relations with the states of the African continent have noticeably intensified. This process, which has acquired a systemic character since 2022, reflects a strategic reconsideration of the African vector in Ukraine’s foreign policy, conditioned by both the geopolitical challenges of Russian aggression and the ambition to integrate more fully into global political processes. The article examines the transformation of official (noramative), expert, professional, and academic discourses of Ukraine’s public diplomacy towards Africa, as well as analyzes key documents such as the «Strategy of Ukraine’s Foreign Policy Activity» (2021), the «Communication Strategy Ukraine–African States» (2023), and other regulatory acts which establish the institutional frameworks for cooperation. The academic discourse on this issue remains fragmented, as evidenced by the limited number of publications and dissertations. Nevertheless, there is a gradual expansion of the thematic spectrum, particularly through transdisciplinary studies combining historical, political, and economic approaches. Major research foci include the competition of international actors (EU, Russia, China) for influence in the region, Ukraine’s strategic communications, and the reactions of African states to global conflicts, especially the Russian-Ukrainian war. The expert discourse, represented by analytical think tanks (the National Institute for Strategic Studies, «Borysfen Intel», the «Ukrainian Institute for the Future»), centers on the priorities of Ukraine’s foreign policy in Africa, notably economic diplomacy, countering Russian disinformation, and building institutional ties. However, a lack of systemic coverage of these issues limits the potential for deep conceptualization of cooperation strategies. The professional discourse, shaped by diplomats and Ministry of Foreign Affairs representatives, highlights the practical aspects of public diplomacy’s implementation—through educational programs, media communication, and institutional initiatives. A critical element is engaging African media and opinion leaders to overcome Russian propaganda and create a positive image of Ukraine. Nevertheless, limited resources—both financial and human—hinder the full realization of these objectives. The normative discourse has undergone a significant evolution: from Africa’s peripheral status in Ukraine’s 1990s foreign policy to a comprehensive approach enshrined in contemporary strategic documents. The «Communication Strategy Ukraine–African States» outlines six key domains: reputational, security, economic, humanitarian, cultural-value, and informational. At the same time, the absence of the African vector in the «Action Plan for the Implementation of the Strategy of Ukraine’s Foreign Policy Activity» (2023) reveals certain discrepancies between declarations and their practical realization. The practical discourse of public diplomacy is marked by the search for new interaction formats, particularly via digital platforms, educational exchanges, and cooperation with European partners. Nevertheless, findings from independent studies (such as «The Anholt-Ipsos Nation Brands Index») point to the limited effectiveness of these efforts, especially in building a positive image of Ukraine in Africa. In conclusion, the further development of Ukrainian–African public diplomacy requires synchronization of five vectors: academic, expert, professional, normative, and practical. Key tasks include strengthening institutional capacity, ensuring stable funding, and achieving a deeper integration of the African direction into Ukraine’s overall foreign policy strategy. Keywords: public diplomacy, communication strategy, international relations, public policy, strategic communication, Ukraine, Africa.