Africa & Global Power

  W hen the rules only apply to some, calling it an ‘order’ becomes an act of political theatre. The phrase “rules-based international order” is among the most repeated in the vocabulary of Western diplomacy. It appears in summit communiqués, foreign ministry speeches, and think-tank reports with the regularity of a liturgical refrain. It is invoked to condemn Russian aggression in Ukraine, to justify sanctions against authoritarian governments, and to defend the architecture of post-World War II multilateral institutions. From the vantage point of the Global South — and particularly from Africa — the phrase lands differently. Not as a description of how the world actually works, but as a description of how its architects wish others to believe it works. The gap between those two things is widening. And the diplomatic consequences of that gap are reshaping the international system. What the ‘Order’ Actually Is The rules-based international order (RIO) refers broadly to ...

A frica is no longer a passive recipient of foreign interest — it is the arena where 21st-century great power competition is being decided. The original Scramble for Africa, formalised at the 1884 Berlin Conference, took less than two decades to partition an entire continent among European powers. Today’s competition is less cartographic but no less consequential. It is being fought across port concessions, military basing agreements, debt instruments, and diplomatic votes in multilateral institutions. The actors have multiplied. The stakes — for Africa’s sovereignty, development, and strategic autonomy — are higher than they have been in generations. This piece is the first in a 30-day series examining the forces shaping Africa and the world. There is no better place to begin than the question that underlies almost every other: who wants what from Africa, and what are Africans doing about it? China: Infrastructure as Influence China’s engagement with Africa over the past t...

The BRICS Expansion at the 2023 Johannesburg Summit marked a pivotal shift in global geopolitics. Hosted by South Africa, the summit invited six new members—Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and initially Argentina (which later withdrew)—to join the original five (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa). Effective January 2024, this expanded BRICS (now often called BRICS+) to represent over 40% of the world's population and a significant share of global GDP, emphasizing reform of Western-dominated institutions, de-dollarization efforts, and greater Global South influence. South Africa's role as host and a founding member highlighted its balancing act in foreign policy. Pretoria maintains deep economic ties with Western partners like the US and UK (including trade agreements and investment), while strengthening alignments with authoritarian-leaning BRICS members Russia and China—evident in its neutral stance on Russia's invasion of Ukrain...