From neglect to 'virtual engagement': The United States and its new paradigm for Africa

African Affairs

Volumn 99, Issue 396, 2000, Pages 355-371

  Alden, Chris ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

FOREIGN POLICY; INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS; POST-COLD WAR; POST-COLONIALISM;

AFRICA; UNITED STATES;

EID: 0033897672     PISSN: 00019909     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/afraf/99.396.355     Document Type: Article

References (72)

1. Peter Schraeder, United States Foreign Policy Toward Africa: Incrementalism, crisis and change (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1994), pp. 5-8; Sanford Ungar, 'US policy toward Africa', in Robert Art and Seyom Brown (eds), US Foreign Policy: The search for a new role (Macmillan, Basingstoke, 1993), pp. 383-4.
2. Peter Schraeder, United States Foreign Policy Toward Africa: Incrementalism, crisis and change (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1994), pp. 5-8; Sanford Ungar, 'US policy toward Africa', in Robert Art and Seyom Brown (eds), US Foreign Policy: The search for a new role (Macmillan, Basingstoke, 1993), pp. 383-4.
3. Bill Martin, 'Waiting for Oprah and the new US constituency for Africa', Review of African Political Economy 75, 25 (1998), pp. 10-11.
4. See Steve Hurst, The Foreign Policy of the Bush Administration: In search of a new world order (Pinter, London, 1999). According to Hurst, other than the crisis in Somalia in the last days of his administration, Bush's primary Africa focus fell upon the lingering conflict in Angola.
5. Michael Mandelbaum, 'Foreign policy as social work', Foreign Affairs, January/February (1996), p. 20.
6. Jim Cason, 'The US: backing out of Africa', Review of African Political Economy 76, 24 (1997), p. 152. David Newman, 'After the Cold War: US interests in sub-Saharan Africa', in Brad Roberts (ed.), US Foreign Policy after the Cold War (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1992), p. 143.
7. Jim Cason, 'The US: backing out of Africa', Review of African Political Economy 76, 24 (1997), p. 152. David Newman, 'After the Cold War: US interests in sub-Saharan Africa', in Brad Roberts (ed.), US Foreign Policy after the Cold War (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1992), p. 143.
8. See Michael Hunt, Ideology and U.S. Foreign Policy (Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 1987).
9. See Michael Cox, US Foreign Policy after the Cold War: Superpower without a mission? (Pinter, London, 1995).
10. See Charles W. Maynes, 'A workable Clinton doctrine', Foreign Policy 93 (1993-4); David Brinkley, 'Democratic enlargement: The Clinton Doctrine', Foreign Policy 106 (1997).
11. See Charles W. Maynes, 'A workable Clinton doctrine', Foreign Policy 93 (1993-4); David Brinkley, 'Democratic enlargement: The Clinton Doctrine', Foreign Policy 106 (1997).
12. Brinkley, 'Democratic enlargement . . .', p. 116.
13. Jim Broderick, The United States and South Africa in the 1990s, SAIIA Report No. 8, (South African Institute of International Affairs, Braamfontein, 1998), p. 2; also see John Stremlau, 'Clinton's dollar diplomacy', Foreign Policy 97 (1994-5).
14. Jim Broderick, The United States and South Africa in the 1990s, SAIIA Report No. 8, (South African Institute of International Affairs, Braamfontein, 1998), p. 2; also see John Stremlau, 'Clinton's dollar diplomacy', Foreign Policy 97 (1994-5).
15. Susan Rice, Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, 22 October 1997, Africa News Service, http://www.africanews.org.
16. There have been a number of different proposals identifying 'pivotal African states' for US interests. These have included South Africa, Nigeria, Zaire/Congo, Kenya, Algeria, Uganda, Rwanda and Eritrea. See, for example, Salih Booker, Africa: Thinking regionally - priorities for US policy toward Africa, APIC Background Paper No. 5 (Africa Policy Information Centre, Washington, DC, March 1996); Robert Chase, Emily Hill and Paul Kennedy, 'The pivotal states', Foreign Affairs, January/February (1996); Dan Connell and Frank Smyth, 'Africa's new bloc', Foreign Affairs, March/April (1998); Marina Ottaway, Africa's New Leaders: Democracy or state reconstruction (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington, DC, 1999).
17. There have been a number of different proposals identifying 'pivotal African states' for US interests. These have included South Africa, Nigeria, Zaire/Congo, Kenya, Algeria, Uganda, Rwanda and Eritrea. See, for example, Salih Booker, Africa: Thinking regionally - priorities for US policy toward Africa, APIC Background Paper No. 5 (Africa Policy Information Centre, Washington, DC, March 1996); Robert Chase, Emily Hill and Paul Kennedy, 'The pivotal states', Foreign Affairs, January/February (1996); Dan Connell and Frank Smyth, 'Africa's new bloc', Foreign Affairs, March/April (1998); Marina Ottaway, Africa's New Leaders: Democracy or state reconstruction (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington, DC, 1999).
18. There have been a number of different proposals identifying 'pivotal African states' for US interests. These have included South Africa, Nigeria, Zaire/Congo, Kenya, Algeria, Uganda, Rwanda and Eritrea. See, for example, Salih Booker, Africa: Thinking regionally - priorities for US policy toward Africa, APIC Background Paper No. 5 (Africa Policy Information Centre, Washington, DC, March 1996); Robert Chase, Emily Hill and Paul Kennedy, 'The pivotal states', Foreign Affairs, January/February (1996); Dan Connell and Frank Smyth, 'Africa's new bloc', Foreign Affairs, March/April (1998); Marina Ottaway, Africa's New Leaders: Democracy or state reconstruction (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington, DC, 1999).
19. There have been a number of different proposals identifying 'pivotal African states' for US interests. These have included South Africa, Nigeria, Zaire/Congo, Kenya, Algeria, Uganda, Rwanda and Eritrea. See, for example, Salih Booker, Africa: Thinking regionally - priorities for US policy toward Africa, APIC Background Paper No. 5 (Africa Policy Information Centre, Washington, DC, March 1996); Robert Chase, Emily Hill and Paul Kennedy, 'The pivotal states', Foreign Affairs, January/February (1996); Dan Connell and Frank Smyth, 'Africa's new bloc', Foreign Affairs, March/April (1998); Marina Ottaway, Africa's New Leaders: Democracy or state reconstruction (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Washington, DC, 1999).
20. Princeton Lyman, 'South Africa's promise', Foreign Policy 102 (1996), p. 118.
21. The subcommittees are agriculture; conservation, environment and water; human resource development and education; science and technology; sustainable energy; and trade and investment.
22. Broderick, The United States and South Africa, p. 35.
23. For a critical account of late Cold War and post-Cold War US foreign policy and the establishment of the National Endowment for Democracy see William Robinson, Promoting Polyarchy: Globalization, US intervention and hegemony (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996), pp. 86-116. Also see Thomas Carothers, 'The NED at 10', Foreign Policy 95 (1994).
24. For a critical account of late Cold War and post-Cold War US foreign policy and the establishment of the National Endowment for Democracy see William Robinson, Promoting Polyarchy: Globalization, US intervention and hegemony (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1996), pp. 86-116. Also see Thomas Carothers, 'The NED at 10', Foreign Policy 95 (1994).
25. Robinson, Promoting Polyarchy . . ., 330-1.
26. Indeed, American analyst Salih Booker claims to have been the progenitor of the concept.
27. See, for example, a joint South African-American series of essays on the topic entitled 'The African Renaissance', Occasional Papers (Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, Bonn, May 1998).
28. Robert Kaplan, 'The coming anarchy', Atlantic Monthly 273 (1994). At the behest of the Clinton Administration, Kaplan made several presentations of his thesis to the US foreign policy and national security establishment in the early 1990s.
29. Booker, Africa: Thinking regionally, p. 13.
30. The Star (Johannesburg), 26 March 1998.
31. Claude Kabemba and Chris Landsberg, 'Opportunity or Opportunism? Behind the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act', Policy Brief 6, September (Centre for Policy Studies, London, 1998), p. 1.
32. Cited in J. F. Torres, New Directions for Development in Third World Countries: The failure of US foreign policy (Aldershot, Avebury, 1993), p. 95.
33. See, for example, Homi Kharas and Hisanobu Shishido, 'The transition from aid to private capital flow', in Uma Lele and Ijaz Nabi (eds), Transitions in Development: The role of aid and commercial flows (International Center for Economic Growth, San Francisco, 1991), pp. 406-9.
34. Glenn Brigaldino, 'Africa's economic renewal under the spell of globalisation', Review of African Political Economy 69, 23 (1996), pp. 437-42.
35. A version was passed by the House of Representatives on 3 November 1998 as HR 1432 Crane/Lugar 'African Growth and Opportunity Act', US House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
36. Roger Riddell, 'The end of foreign aid to Africa? Concerns about donor policies', African Affairs 98, 392 (1999), p. 320.
37. The Star (Johannesburg), 28 March 1998.
38. Cited in Greg Mills, 'South Africa, the United States and Africa', South African Journal of International Affairs 6, 1 (Summer, 1998), p. 37.
39. Mills, 'South Africa, the United States and Africa', pp. 36-7.
40. Alfred Zack-Williams, 'Peacekeeping and an African High Command: plus ca change, plus c'est la même chose', Review of African Political Economy 71, 24 (1997). Zack-Williams points out that the idea of a continental force predates these latest initiatives; in fact, the colonial powers sought to pull together a number of regional and extra-regional security structures in the 1950s as part of the then emergent Western containment strategy.
41. Jeffrey Herbst, 'South Africa and ACRI', in South African Yearbook for International Affairs (South African Institute of International Affairs, Braamfontein, 1998), p. 222. See also Paul Omach, 'The African Crisis Response Initiative: domestic politics and convergence of national interests', African Affairs 99, 394 (2000), pp. 73-95.
42. Jeffrey Herbst, 'South Africa and ACRI', in South African Yearbook for International Affairs (South African Institute of International Affairs, Braamfontein, 1998), p. 222. See also Paul Omach, 'The African Crisis Response Initiative: domestic politics and convergence of national interests', African Affairs 99, 394 (2000), pp. 73-95.
43. Jeremy Levitt, 'The African Crisis Response Initiative: a general survey', Africa Insight 28, 3/4 (1998), p. 101.
44. Levitt, 'The African Crisis Response Initiative', p. 102.
45. Eric Berman and Katie Sams, Constructive Disengagement: Western efforts to develop African peacekeeping, ISS Monograph Series No. 33, December (Institute for Security Studies, Midrand, 1998), p. 3.
46. Levitt, 'The African Crisis Response Initiative', p. 102.
47. Africa Confidential 38, 16, 1 August 1997.
48. Mills, 'South Africa, the United States and Africa', p. 40.
49. This call had received African support through the establishment of the Organization for African Unity's Eminent Persons Group for Reparations in 1992, led by prominent Africans and African-Americans.
50. David Gordon et al., The United States and Africa: a post-Cold War perspective (Norton, New York, 1998), pp. 77-80.
51. For a cogent analysis of how ethnic politics influenced foreign policy outcomes during the Clinton Administration, see Adrian Guelke, 'The US, Irish American and Northern Ireland peace process,' International Affairs 72, 3 (1996). The continued failure of Muslims in America to exercise a similar degree of influence is analyzed in Ali Mazrui, 'Between the crescent and the star-spangled banner: American Muslims and US foreign policy', International Affairs 72, 3 (1996).
52. For a cogent analysis of how ethnic politics influenced foreign policy outcomes during the Clinton Administration, see Adrian Guelke, 'The US, Irish American and Northern Ireland peace process,' International Affairs 72, 3 (1996). The continued failure of Muslims in America to exercise a similar degree of influence is analyzed in Ali Mazrui, 'Between the crescent and the star-spangled banner: American Muslims and US foreign policy', International Affairs 72, 3 (1996).
53. The Constituency for Africa was launched in 1990 by the lobby group Africare, while the Corporate Council on Africa was established in 1992 and, along with the Ford Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation, provided the bulk of the funding for this initiative.
54. See the website for the National Summit on Africa, http://www.africasummit.org/backgrnd.htm. For an overview of African-American influence in one area of foreign policy, see Ronald Walters, 'African American influence on US foreign policy toward South Africa', in Mohammed Ahrari (ed.) Ethnic Groups in US Foreign Policy (Greenwood, Westport, CT, 1987) and more generally Michael Krenn (ed.) The African American Voice in US Foreign Policy Since World War II (Garland, New York, 1998).
55. See the website for the National Summit on Africa, http://www.africasummit.org/backgrnd.htm. For an overview of African-American influence in one area of foreign policy, see Ronald Walters, 'African American influence on US foreign policy toward South Africa', in Mohammed Ahrari (ed.) Ethnic Groups in US Foreign Policy (Greenwood, Westport, CT, 1987) and more generally Michael Krenn (ed.) The African American Voice in US Foreign Policy Since World War II (Garland, New York, 1998).
56. William Martin, 'Constructive engagement II or catching the fourth wave: who and where are the "constituents" for Africa?' The Black Scholar 24, 1 (1999), p. 24. Martin reports that the Chicago regional conference drew only 200 to 300 participants, in spite of a US$400,000 budget outlay.
57. Martin, 'Constructive engagement II', p. 18. For radical scholars, this top-down approach to creating a 'new constituency for Africa' is contrasted with the Council of African Affairs, established in 1937 and running until 1966, which was in their eyes the 'golden age' of African-American co-operation. Gerald Horne, 'Looking forward/looking backward: the black constituency for Africa past and present', The Black Scholar 29, 1 (1999), pp. 30-33 .
58. Martin, 'Constructive engagement II', p. 18. For radical scholars, this top-down approach to creating a 'new constituency for Africa' is contrasted with the Council of African Affairs, established in 1937 and running until 1966, which was in their eyes the 'golden age' of African-American co-operation. Gerald Horne, 'Looking forward/looking backward: the black constituency for Africa past and present', The Black Scholar 29, 1 (1999), pp. 30-33 .
59. 'Final communique issued by US-SADC Forum', 21 April 1999, Africa News Service, http://www.africanews.org/usaf.
60. 'Assistant Secretary Rice addresses CCA capital to Africa conference', 28 April 1999, Africa News Service, http://africanews.org/usaf.
61. Mills, 'South Africa, the United States and Africa', p. 36.
62. Salih Booker, 'The Clinton Administration's new partnership for economic growth and opportunity in Africa: a pivotal moment?', Global Dialogue 2, 2, (Foundation for Global Dialogue, Braamfontein, 1998), p. 13.
63. Gorm Rye Olssen, 'Europe and the promotion of democracy in post-Cold War Africa: how serious is Europe and for what reason?', African Affairs 97, 388 (1998), p. 350.
64. Kabemba and Landsberg, Opportunity or Opportunism, p. 1.
65. Cited approvingly by Susan Rice, Assistant Secretary for African Affairs, US State Department, at an address to the Corporate Council on Africa, 'Assistant Secretary Rice addresses CCA capital to Africa conference', 28 April 1999, Africa News Service, http://www.africanews.org/usaf.
66. Rice, 'Capital to Africa conference', http://www.africanews.org/usaf.
67. Connell and Smyth, 'Africa's new bloc' p. 93.
68. Africa News Service, 12 May 2000, http://www.africanews.org.
69. Hunt, Ideology and U.S. Foreign Policy, p. 174.
70. Africa News Service, 23 September 1999, http://www.africanews.org.
71. One American journalist declared, 'The United States would perhaps do more, and better, in Africa if there were greater constituency pressures prodding Washington policy makers.' Marguerite Michaels, 'Retreat from Africa', Foreign Affairs 72, 1 (1993), p. 107. As noted earlier, the National Summit process has, however, continued to attract controversy for its corporate-friendly stance.
72. Africa News Service, 11 May 2000, http://www.africanews.org.