Changing US Foreign Policy towards China and Africa

Absztrakt

The present-day international arena has been witnessing the rise of China as the leading emerging economy. This offers several policy-related challenges to the lone superpower, the United States of America. Not long ago, the “birth of a Pacific World Order” was heralded, especially as the Chinese and American economies are heavily intertwined, forming a unique ‘Chimerican’ conglomerate of interests. Today, President Trump’s ‘America First’ approach, however, seems to put this option aside with a clear accent on American national interests. This study will compare US and Chinese approaches, interests and involvement in African development up until the incumbent president’s administration. It will look at what the motives of the two powers were on African soil until the end of President Obama’s second term, and to what extent they were acting differently in developing and managing bi- and multilateral relations. Is it merely their current foreign policy rhetoric that the US and China want to cooperate (also) in African development, or can we imagine a realistic scenario of their joint efforts and involvement resulting in positive and long-lasting, “society-wide repercussions” across African countries? Related to this question, the paper offers a focus on US foreign policy towards China and Africa up until 2017.