A New Scramble for EurAfrica?

Abstract

The British referendum on continued EU membership in 2016 was infused with Brexiteer discourse relating to a fairer UK relationship with African countries inside the Commonwealth. Prominent campaigners including Boris Johnson and Daniel Hannan regularly spoke of the EU's mercantilist trade and aid policies in sub-Saharan Africa as a means to underscore the supranational project's unsavoury relationship with Anglophone developing countries. Brexit, it was claimed, would usher in a new era whereby the UK Department for International Development (DFID) -and a resurgent UK Department for International Trade (DFIT) -would have the opportunity to offer humanitarian aid and free trade unencumbered by the cynicism of the European Commission. Recent policy papers from both DFID and DFIT, however, have made clear that the UK intends to replicate the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) under negotiation between the European Commission and sub-regions of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) bloc. This is despite Brexiteer discourse about the EPAs' apparent pitfalls relating to non-tariff barriers and the import-flooding of African markets. Perhaps more worryingly, meanwhile, DFID and DFIT publications highlight the need for UK Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) -notably the CDC Group -to robustly compete with their EU counterparts, to gain better market share for UK businesses within emerging African markets. In this context, the article argues that Brexit will intensify a 'new scramble for Africa' and highlights emerging challenges for European development cooperation vis-à-vis normative pledges to sustainable development. Additionally, it considers possible African responses via reflection on the writings of Kwame Nkrumah regarding 'neo-colonialism'.

Europe’s Global Gateway: A New Instrument of Geopolitics

“…The rise of China has led to a rethinking of EU-Africa relations (Carbone, 2023;Haastrup, 2022;Langan, 2020), especially because the EU and the US perceive the African continent to be at risk of being ensnared by China's sphere of influence (G7, 2022;Raube & Rubio, 2022). In 2010, the EU and China had a share of around 40% of construction and investments in Africa.…”

Beyond ‘donor-recipient relations’? A historical-institutionalist perspective on recent efforts to modernise EU partnerships with third countries

“…This in in turn has affected the extent to which both policy processes can reform Africa-EU relations in the ways desired by the EU, notably a shift from (aid-dependent) donor-recipient relations towards more equal relations. In addition to contributing to recent research on the evolving EU-Africa relations (Langan 2020;Hurt 2020), this article contributes to research on the evolution and governance of the European Union's budget in relation to its resources dedicated to pursuing external policies (Ackrill and Kay 2006;Crowe 2017).…”