Africa Dialogue Research Articles

Africa Dialogue Series launched

The United Nations has launched a new initiative to promote Africa’s agenda. Organised by the Office of the Special Adviser on Africa (OSAA), the Africa Dialogue Series (ADS) will provide interactive opportunities to discuss and identify areas in which the UN, the African Union and the broader international community can mobilise efforts for a prosperous and peaceful Africa.

Brazilian approaches to maritime security cooperation in IBSA and the prospects for an Atlantic–Indian maritime security governance

The present text discusses Brazilian's perspectives on South Atlantic security, the prospects of its engagement in fostering maritime security governance in the axis linking the South Atlantic and the Indian Oceans and the role that the India, Brazil and South Africa Dialogue Forum (IBSA) might play in this regard. It addresses Brazil's geostrategic interests and concerns regarding its maritime projection and its perspectives towards security and maritime cooperation within IBSA. Thereafter, it contrasts these perspectives with the priority currently assigned to the South Atlantic in its defense policy and to the political and diplomatic valuation of the South Atlantic Zone of Peace and Cooperation as the proper institutional framework to foster maritime governance in the region. It concludes by pointing out that at present there are no immediate and mid-term incentives strong enough for Brazil to change its primary focus on the South Atlantic to favour the emergence of a bi-ocean governance framework.

Rising Powers and Human Rights: The India-Brazil-South Africa Dialogue Forum at the UN Human Rights Council

In the official declarations of the India-Brazil-South Africa Dialogue Forum (IBSA), the three states claim a shared understanding of human rights and a deep commitment to the international promotion and protection of these rights. This article considers these two propositions in light of the actions of the IBSA states on the United Nations Human Rights Council. After examining the positions of the IBSA states on seven controversial country-specific cases (Belarus, Darfur and Sudan, Iran, Israel, North Korea, Sri Lanka, and Syria) and four controversial thematic domains (economic rights, racism, freedom of expression, and sexual orientation), I conclude that the three states do not have the same views about human rights. Furthermore, I find that the IBSA states often do not support pro-human rights initiatives in the Council, although Brazil stands apart from India and South Africa for its greater willingness to support stronger human rights positions.

KỌLEADE ODUTỌLA , Diaspora and Imagined Nationality: USA–Africa dialogue and cyberframing Nigerian nationhood. Durham NC: Carolina Academic Press. (pb $30 – 978 1 59460 926 8). 2011, 204 pp.

KỌLEADE ODUTỌLA , Diaspora and Imagined Nationality: USA–Africa dialogue and cyberframing Nigerian nationhood. Durham NC: Carolina Academic Press. (pb $30 – 978 1 59460 926 8). 2011, 204 pp. - Volume 84 Issue 2

The Janus Faces of a Middle Power: South Africa's Emergence in International Development

South Africa's rising international presence is undeniable. The country has recently joined the BRICS club of powerful emerging countries, is in the G20, is a member of IBSA (the India–Brazil–South Africa Dialogue Forum) and has aspirations to become a permanent member of a potentially reformed UN Security Council. Furthermore, South Africa has set up a new international development agency, a key marker of a middle power. And yet South Africa is not a typical middle power, given that half of its citizens live below the poverty line. Through various methods such as print and online media content analysis and interviews with policy-makers, journalists, civil society and international donors between 2009 and 2011, this paper examines the two different and divergent faces of South African politics – one focused on the domestic development state and the other focused on its international middle power aspirations.

IBSA: Fading out or forging a common vision?

The India, Brazil and South Africa Dialogue Forum (IBSA) established in 2003 brings together three like-minded, democratic, market economies of multi-cultural and multi-ethnic character, sharing a broadly similar economic, political and development situation. At the time of its formation IBSA was widely regarded as representing a novel form of South-South cooperation, transcending older models rooted in the logic of North-South confrontation in the post-colonial, Cold War world. However, now, as the respective countries prepare for their tenth anniversary summit in India, the forum seems to face a growing sense of irrelevance, perhaps even an existential crisis. There has been a proliferation of other forums—notably BRICS and the G20—which means that IBSA needs to differentiate itself if it is to endure. This paper suggests a common vision for IBSA, based on the concept of international liberalism, implying an open international market, well-regulated capital markets and tailored domestic policies such as social policy, health policy and education policy, may well increase the weight IBSA can gain in different international forums.

Dawn of a New Climate Order: Analysis of USA + BASIC Collaborative Frameworks

A new climate order was confirmed at the end of the Copenhagen Climate Summit in December 2009. The new climate order ushered in collaborative frameworks among the USA and the BASIC Group made up of Brazil, South Africa, India and China. Collaboration among the identified countries resulted in three sets of partnerships, namely: the USA-India-China (UIC Group); the BASIC Group; and IBSA (India-Brazil-South Africa Dialogue Forum). The UIC partnership presents a triangle bringing together top global greenhouse gas (GHG) emitters committing to address climate change. As of 2007, the UIC Group accounted for about 47% of total global GHG emissions. The USA + BASIC Group crafted the Copenhagen Accord architecture. Although not binding, the Copenhagen Accord was the major outcome from COP15. The IBSA collaboration brings further insights to the new climate order as it draws India into the centre of proceedings from the three sets of collaborative frameworks under deliberation. This paper focuses on what this new climate order means for climate leadership in general and the climate negotiation road leading to Mexico in December 2010.

‘The South Will Rise Again’? New Alliances and Global Governance: The India–Brazil–South Africa Dialogue Forum

The development of formalised South–South linkages and alliances reflect a potentially interesting development in global governance as elites from the global South seek to project their nascent economic and political power vis-à-vis their relationships with the developed world. However, there are limitations to these activities and it is premature to see them as reflecting a possible call for a revised New International Economic Order (NIEO). In fact, the policies and positions that key elites from the South are advancing reify neo-liberalism as commonsense and are hardly revolutionary. A revised Coxian/neo-Gramscian framework is deployed to construct a theorisation of such ongoing processes, with a specific focus on India, Brazil and South Africa Dialogue Forum (IBSA).

An Asian–African dialogue and partnership for nutrition and health

Although Asia and Africa have been disconnected in their southern extremes geographically and ecologically ever since the separations in Gondwanaland some 200 million years ago the people whose descendants settled in Asia left Africa only about 150 000 years ago as Homo sapiens. The Eurasian continental bridge between Africa South-east Asia and the Pacific is now of little consequence as sea and air traffic as well across the Indian Ocean becomes more and more active and information technology (IT) provides instantaneous knowledge transfer. Great opportunities now exist for an Asia–Africa dialogue recreating the ancient affinities. At present the diversity of food cultures remains wide in both Africa and Asia and is suggestive of the potential latitude possible within the human diet. Such diversity is compatible with optimal health with sustainability of the food supply and the environment from which it comes and with socioeconomic wellbeing. (excerpt)

Africa's Dialogue with the West

Africa's Dialogue with the West