Africa and Europe

All Pages in this Section

Africa

• Veit Bachmann: African-European relations
• Pádraig Carmody: Africa's economic development and globalisation
• Pádraig Carmody: Africa's natural resources, climate change and security
• Alex Chitty: Western Sahara - territorial dispute, self-determination and the UN
• Steven Spittaels: Congo (Democratic Republic) - a complex civil war

Europe - European Union

• Luiza Bialasiewicz: European Union - geographical imaginations
• Luiza Bialasiewicz: European Union: geopolitical visions
• Federico Bordonaro: European Union - global position and political integration
• James Rogers: European Union - geopolitical and chronopolitical othering
• James Rogers: European Union - foreign policy, communitarianism and civilisation
• James Rogers: European Union - grand strategy, normative power and military policy

Europe - other

• Emel Akçali - Cyprus' geopolitical realities, representations and aspirations
• Federico Bordonaro: Europe, the global recession and dividing lines
• Federico Bordonaro: Russia's global position, Eastern Europe and energy policy
• Gyula Csurgai: Kosovo - self determination, secession and multi-ethnic regions
• Olivier Kempf: NATO - position of France, its cohesion and future enlargement
• Marietta König: Georgia - Abkhazia, South Ossetia and conflict resolution
• Marietta König: Georgia - Saakasvili, corruption and the opposition
• Martin Müller: The inevitable flaws in Russia’s great power project
• Jérémy Robine: France - national identity, urban riots and the 'War of Memories'

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Introduction and recent updates

Introduction

The Africa and Europe section offers academic analysis of geopolitical trends, tensions and risks in these regions.

The 20 contributions to this section seek to answer questions such as:

• What is the effect of globalisation on Africa?
• Is the European Union a global superpower?
• Which factors play a role in the relationship between Africa and Europe?

Western Sahara: territorial dispute

June 2010

Alex Chitty is student 'Geopolitics, Territory and Security' at King’s College London. In this essay, he outlines the origins of the dispute in Western Sahara, and discusses the role of UN peacekeepers:

Alex Chitty: Western Sahara - territorial dispute, self-determination and the UN

Foreign policy of European Union

April 2010

In the last interview in a series of three, James Rogers (Cambridge University) elaborates on the global position and foreign policy of the European Union:'

James Rogers: European Union - foreign policy, communitarianism and civilisation

"At the moment, European foreign and security policy is still trapped in the decade before last. Until this is changed to deal with new geopolitical realities, Europeans will continue to decline relatively vis-à-vis the rising Asian powers."

Geopolitical realities of Cyprus

November 2009

Dr Emel Akçali (University of Birmingham) gives her views on issues such as mental maps, conflict resolution and the role of the European Union:

Emel Akçali - Cyprus' geopolitical realities, representations and aspirations

"Cyprus, divided territorially between a de facto republic and an internationally recognized EU member is situated at the junction of state, societal, transnational and supranational actors’ interests. It is thus cornered between modern geopolitical realities and post-modern geopolitical aspirations."

Recommended contributions

Geopolitical visions of EU

September 2009

Dr. Luiza Bialasiewicz (Senior Lecturer in Political Geography at Royal Holloway) explains the meaning of geopolitical visions and apllies this concept to the European Union. Why does the EU lack one geopolitical vision? Has the identity of the EU recently changed? And what has been the impact of the end of the 'Cold War' on Europe's borders?

Luiza Bialasiewicz: European Union: geopolitical visions

"It is curious how national political cultures and national histories still strongly influence member states’ geopolitical visions of and for Europe. These are often shaped by histories of strife but also by (ex)colonial ties."

Economic development in Africa

July 2009

Pádraig Carmody (PhD from the University of Minnesota) is Lecturer in Geography at Trinity College in Dublin. In this interview, Mr Carmody addresses issues such as economic liberalization, globalization, aid effectiveness and the economic legacy of colonialism:

Pádraig Carmody: Africa's economic development and globalisation

"The current 'good governance' discourse tries to blame national elites for the poor management of African economies without examining how those elites are imbricated in broader global power structures."

African-European relations

June 2009

Veit Bachmann (Associate Lecturer and PhD Candidate at University of Plymouth) elaborates on recent fieldwork in East Africa. Why did he choose his research questions, geopolitical concepts and methodologies? What were the main results of the fieldwork? Which research topics would be interesting for future research?

Veit Bachmann - Geopolitical Briefing on African-European relations

"A more systematic comparative analysis of differences between official strategies and local perceptions of the EU and its geopolitical role between various countries in sub-Saharan Africa and between various regions in the world is needed."