Dependency, Instability and Shifting Global Power: Influences and Interests in African Foreign Policy in the 21st Century

The document analyzes how African foreign policy is shaped by a persistent state of economic and military weakness, leading to a high dependency on external aid. This dependency often compromises national sovereignty and links domestic governance to international relations. The author identifies a strong continental preference for multilateralism and collective action—exemplified by the African Union and NEPAD—as a means to counterbalance Western influence and resist external domination. However, the paper notes that this collective approach is often hampered by a lack of political will, the influence of individual leaders, and the persistence of illiberal governance. It also highlights a shift in ideological frameworks, with many African states moving away from state-led development toward market-based systems and increased engagement with global investors, particularly China.

• African nations exhibit a high level of financial dependency on external aid, which significantly constrains their policy independence and makes domestic political actions a matter of foreign policy contestation. Excluding North Africa, South Africa, and Nigeria, sub-Saharan governments relied on aid for an average of 63.9% of their central government revenues over the past decade.
• There is a persistent African foreign policy strategy of resisting external domination through three primary methods: voting as a cohesive bloc in UN bodies to obstruct punitive actions, asserting that regional bodies should lead crisis responses before the UN Security Council, and courting non-Western powers like China to counterbalance the West.
• The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) represent attempts at collective activist foreign policy to improve governance and attract resources, but their success has been mixed due to a lack of tangible projects and a failure to penalize illiberal practices.
• African states are increasingly preoccupied with trade as a foreign policy issue, yet they remain largely defensive and reactive. They have historically relied on unilateral trade preferences from developed nations, which have been eroded by the shift toward a rules-based global system under the WTO.
• Conflict intervention by the African Union (AU) and other regional bodies is often ad hoc and reactive, frequently focusing on engineering ceasefires and elections without addressing the underlying causes of instability. The effectiveness of these interventions is heavily dependent on the leadership of powerful states like Nigeria and South Africa.
• A significant ideological shift has occurred as African nations move away from the Soviet-influenced state-led development models of the 1960s and 70s toward an acceptance of capitalism, private investment, and global market integration.
• Certain African states leverage their strategic value to Western powers—such as Ethiopia's role in fighting Islamic fundamentalism or Kenya's cooperation in incarcerating Somali pirates—to maintain aid flows and deflect criticism of their internal human rights or governance records.

APA

Herbert, R. (2011). Dependency, Instability and Shifting Global Power: Influences and Interests in African Foreign Policy in the 21st Century. South African Institute of International Affairs. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Occasional-Paper-95.pdf

Chicago

Herbert, Ross. Dependency, Instability and Shifting Global Power: Influences and Interests in African Foreign Policy in the 21st Century. South African Institute of International Affairs, 2011. https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Occasional-Paper-95.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Herbert |first1=Ross |title=Dependency, Instability and Shifting Global Power: Influences and Interests in African Foreign Policy in the 21st Century |publisher=South African Institute of International Affairs |date=September 2011 |url=https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Occasional-Paper-95.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{herbert2011dependency, author = {Herbert, Ross}, title = {{Dependency, Instability and Shifting Global Power: Influences and Interests in African Foreign Policy in the 21st Century}}, institution = {South African Institute of International Affairs}, year = {2011}, month = sep, url = {https://saiia.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Occasional-Paper-95.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }