Benefitting from Great Power Rivalry in Africa

The document examines the geopolitical competition between the US and China in Africa, suggesting that African nations can increase their agency by playing rival powers against each other to obtain better investment, infrastructure funding, and trade agreements. It highlights examples from Guinea and Ethiopia where this strategy yielded better contract terms and infrastructure packages. The author proposes five measures for African governments: avoiding opportunistic short-term offers, adopting integrated strategic plans (citing Senegal's Plan Emergent Senegal), learning from other regions like Latin America and Southeast Asia, enhancing bureaucratic capacity and local expertise on foreign partners, and promoting trilateral or quadrilateral cooperation between traditional and new partners.

• African governments can leverage the competition between the US and China to obtain increased resources, including development assistance, investment flows, infrastructure funding, and improved trade agreements to combat poverty and boost growth.
• Strategic competition between foreign powers has already provided tangible benefits in specific sectors; for example, the Guinean government improved contract clauses with China by utilizing its relationship with Russia, and Ethiopia secured a USD 850 million package from a US-backed consortium for telecom licenses in 2021.
• To maximize benefits from foreign partnerships, the author recommends that African states implement embedded strategic plans, such as Senegal's Plan Emergent Senegal, which uses a specialized unit to selectively match foreign partners to specific sector priorities.
• Public opinion in Africa does not necessarily view the US-China rivalry as a binary choice; Afrobarometer data from 2019 to mid-2021 across 34 countries indicates that approximately 62% of respondents view China's influence positively, while 60% view the US influence positively.

APA

Soulé, F. (2021). Benefitting from Great Power Rivalry in Africa. Africa Policy Research Institute. https://afripoli.org/zero-sum-benefitting-from-great-power-rivalry-in-africa

Chicago

Soulé, Folashadé. Benefitting from Great Power Rivalry in Africa. Africa Policy Research Institute, 2021. https://afripoli.org/zero-sum-benefitting-from-great-power-rivalry-in-africa.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Soulé |first1=Folashadé |title=Benefitting from Great Power Rivalry in Africa |publisher=Africa Policy Research Institute |date=25 October 2021 |url=https://afripoli.org/zero-sum-benefitting-from-great-power-rivalry-in-africa |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{soul2021benefitting, author = {Soulé, Folashadé}, title = {{Benefitting from Great Power Rivalry in Africa}}, institution = {Africa Policy Research Institute}, year = {2021}, month = oct, url = {https://afripoli.org/zero-sum-benefitting-from-great-power-rivalry-in-africa}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }