Africa in the International system by Christopher - A review

Résumé du document

During the cold war, Africa was probably the smallest concern of both the superpowers. The Afro-superpowers relationship has often been reduced to the sterile formula of African independence versus superpower imperialism. Actually, African leaders often had a certain freedom of action as they were not insignificant to the United States and the Soviet Union.

With the exception of the Horn, Africa was certainly not one of the most strategic and disputed regions of the World. In the second half of the 1970s, superpower interest in Africa grew, mainly because the Soviet Union was challenging the USA through the Third World, but never did they consider committing their own troops in Africa as they did in Afghanistan and Vietnam.

US-Africa relations were apart from the rest of the US-foreign policy as, from the Presidency of JFK, an Assistant Secretary of State was assigned special responsibility for Africa. In the Soviet Union, Afro-Soviet relations remained within the control of the foreign ministry but there really was little interest towards this relation. The Ogaden crisis in 1977 is probably the only time that Africa had a real impact on the superpowers' relations.

Extraits

[...] The Soviet role The Soviet Union has often been regarded with suspicion by African leaders who feared a potential source of subversion. The Afro-Soviet relationship was, however, a means for Africans to get away from traditional linkages established under colonial rule. But this relationship depended on African initiatives meaning that the Soviet presence on the continent was always rather precarious. But the Soviet Union had appreciable resources with which to attract interest of African partners. - Anti-Westernism. - The USSR was an active partner in the struggle for liberation, often supporting movements fighting against colonialism or white minority rule. [...]

[...] The opportunities which it had given them to impose the project of monopoly statehood was abruptly removed. The end of the cold war exposed African states to external pressures (e.g. democratization) from which they had hitherto been largely protected and did not so much cause the crises of Africa which in some cases became increasingly obvious after 1989, such as the coinciding with the failure of a conception of the state in Africa which had already become unsustainable. [...]

[...] Soviet officials tried to protect their interests by establishing long-term deals that would survive a change of regime. That is why treaties of friendship and cooperation with the Soviet Union were signed by some African countries which were expected to organize their structures of political and economic management in conformity with the Soviet model. African states were, however, quite reluctant to accept such deals as they valued control over their domestic affairs more than anything. The Soviet Union never succeeded in providing African states with a substitute for Western economic linkages. [...]

[...] Non-alignment was born in this context. But even though the superpowers were considered as a resource, some countries could not afford not to be strongly committed to one side or the other. These countries are the ones that had a relatively low level of control over their domestic political systems and they had to compare the advantages and disadvantages of both sides. While they were both facing South African-backed insurgencies, Mozambique sought association with the Western block whereas Angola turned to the Soviet Union. [...]

[...] Moreover, the delays to get Western weapons were too long as Western countries only produced after the order. Finally, unlike Western arms, Soviet ones were not sold at market prices but on terms reflecting the balance in any particular case between the strategic and financial interests of the USSR. The geostrategic concern for mineral resources which dominated Western security policy in the immediate aftermath of the OPEC oil price increases led Western countries to devote considerable resources to the protection of some African countries, especially Zaire and Chad. [...]