https://allafrica.com/stories/202310300012.html
Starting November 2nd, the US and over 30 sub-Saharan African countries will meet in South Africa to discuss trade agreements within the region, along with strengthening relations economically overall with the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). Tensions have risen with South Africa at the center of it after their non-alignment stance in the UN on the Russia-Ukraine war, leaving US politicians with a negative view of their affairs with South Africa and making them push for less relations with them. Relations are increasingly more strained now that the BRICS alliance is expanding its member countries in an attempt to expand trade alliances and cooperation.
To begin, this article is important because it demonstrates the rising force that African countries are slowly starting to have on global affairs, something that’s rather difficult for them to do considering their sovereignty is still rather fresh (the oldest sovereign African nation is the Republic of the Congo in 1960). Furthermore, South Africa is being pulled in two directions: either strengthen relations with the US or focus more on the economic alliance they have with their fellow countries in BRICS, an IGO that excludes the US. They could side with the United States and further the influence that they have over the world, or provide more resources towards BRICS since it is allowing more countries in. The latter could directly defy the geopolitical hand the US has over the world in pursuit of a powerful alliance that might perhaps undermine US hegemony. Because countries like Russia and China are in BRICS, this might be an opportunity to shift an ally from the US towards the more anti-Western countries of the world. As China continues to fund South African projects more and more, since the total external South African debt to China has increased to 17%, it could show many African countries just exactly the benefits they’re getting from US trade relations when China could support them more.
In class, we’ve spoken greatly about power dynamics on the global stage. The status quo power(s) of the world typically involves the US, China, and Russia, but perhaps we are entering a time where countries are rapidly developing and making a bigger name for themselves in international relations. Could the overall major “powers” be shifting today? On top of that, seeing an African country rise to this level is unheard of in global politics. This notion could reduce the idea of the United States as a global hegemonic power.