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Table of Contents :
Editorial Note
Marcel Kitissou 5
This paper examined the relationship between the European Union (EU) and Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) and sought to ascertain lessons the BRICS bloc could learn from the EU’s integration. The study employed an exploratory qualitative desktop research design to study the relations between the EU and BRICS bloc. The paper established that the EU has not formulated a BRICS policy and vice versa, which implies that there are no formal relations between the two blocs. However, the EU has institutionalised political and economic engagements with BRICS member countries through the EU strategic partnership framework. This demonstrates that, at the global level, BRICS and the EU may appear to be opponents but, at a state-to-state level, they are strategic partners. Nonetheless, this paper noted that the EU has become a role model for regional integration and there are imperative lessons that BRICS could learn from the EU’s integration. The paper, therefore, recommended that BRICS emulates the EU’s integration experience and utilises it to construct its integration.
In contemporary times, it is becoming increasingly apparent that the nexus between peace, security and economic development cannot be overstated. Therefore, several international organisations have positioned security and political stability as a tool for sustainable economic development. Nonetheless, organisations such as the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) have struggled with these goals. Existing studies on the BRICS have concentrated much on its prospects in a largely power-dominated world, with only a few reflecting on the expected role in addressing local conflicts, particularly the India-Pakistan conflict over the ownership and control of Kashmir. Relying on secondary sources and adopting the game theory model as the theoretical framework, this study interrogated the involvement and role of BRICS in the resolution of the deadly conflict. Although the BRICS member states have gradually demonstrated a zeal for intervening and resolving conflicts across the globe, their response to the crisis has left much upheaval about this commitment. Regardless of Pakistan's non-membership of BRICS, it is expected that BRICS would leverage the close relationship of Pakistan to its members and the worsening border and human insecurity in China and India to intervene in the conflict, but the reverse is the case. The most problematic is the apparent diversity of interests of key actors like Russia, China and India, which has further worsened the conflict and dimmed the chances of sustainable peace. Although the conflict has presented some overwhelming challenges for BRICS, the onus lies with the key actors to demonstrate political will and zeal in addressing the conflict amicably. This would help restore peace in the troubled region, sustain economic prosperity among members, rebuild confidence regarding their commitment to global peace and security, and boost or increase the level of their voices on global issues.
China’s international relations with Africa have in the past received little attention, particularly from African scholars and International Relations (IR) practitioners. Those who have studied China-Africa relations have mostly focused on various important aspects emanating from other academic disciplines such as econometrics, developmental studies, economics, history, and peace studies. By reading between the lines in the limited IR scholarship on China’s Neocolonialism in Africa, one would pick up that China’s neocolonial tactics have been explored less by reactive scholars at large. Therefore, this article aimed to assess China’s neocolonialism in Africa with a special test case of two heavily indebted African countries: Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The author compare and contrast China’s involvement in both of these African countries from a special neocolonial point of view and argue that Chinese neocolonialism in Africa is alternatively underpinned by soft power diplomacy and conditional loans that are steered towards the acquisition of Africa’s natural resources. Methodologically, this article has relied on document analysis contingent on complete secondary materials.
This paper reflects on Russia's invasion of Ukraine and how it represents the re-emergence of the politics of the Cold War. The prevailing security dilemma between the Western bloc and Russia showcases contrasting views from International Relations (IR) scholars on the potential opportunity to bolster the vision of the successionist agenda of the Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) forum. In addition, the Ukraine crisis has polarised Cold War politics and is slowly dividing the international community into two blocs, which gives rise to numerous prevalent foreign policy issues on the decline of the Western bloc’s dominance in international relations and the politics of solidarity and non-interference by BRICS associates. Also, the war has evoked contrasting views on South Africa’s foreign policy commitments to promote human rights and democracy in global politics. Specifically, this article discusses the relationship between Moscow and Pretoria within the context of the Russia-Ukraine war. In detail, this qualitative study provides an (1) historical account on Russia- South Africa relations (2) The Russia-South Africa relationship within the context of the Ukraine crisis (3) South Africa’s position towards the war, (4) BRICS entanglement in the crisis, and (5) South Africa’s foreign policy approaches towards the BRICS forum. Lastly, this paper provides an African-centred discussion on the recent discourse on multilateralism and the future of the BRICS forum as an alternative to the Western bloc.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is critical to global peace and security, yet decades of negotiations over its reform have proved fruitless. As an important organ for global peace and security, it lacks geographic representation and also has no African state included as a permanent member. This has been an ongoing debate for decades. This paper analyses the Russian and Chinese positions on UNSC reform and South Africa’s inclusion as a permanent member. The paper further analyses the implications of the positions of China and Russia on this. We employed qualitative research method, specifically document analysis as a data technique in order to obtain existing data on Moscow and Beijing’s positions on Pretoria’s inclusion as a permanent member of the UNSC. We further used cooperative game and alliance shelter theories as our frameworks of analysis to navigate Chinese and Russian positions on South Africa’s inclusion as a permanent member of the UNSC. We argue that China and Russia support reform and South Africa’s inclusion as a permanent member. However, both are reluctant to grant Pretoria veto power, which is an imperative factor on the issue of reform. We conclude that the alliance of China, Russia, and South Africa through BRICS is a cosmetic cooperation. Hence, South Africa may not have a substantial benefit from this new regionalism due to its lack of veto power, should reform occur.
To foster economic opportunities and development in Africa, the African Union (AU) reduced all negotiations and discussions into an agreement resulting in the establishment of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), enabling Africans to trade freely by eliminating restrictions and limitations posed by the member states regulations, policies and laws pre-AfCFTA. AFCFTA seeks to promote Africa’s growth and economic development by championing citizen inclusion and increased cooperation and integration of African states. Prior to AfCFTA, it was generally noticed that trading activities among the African nations on the African continent was on a low side, not inspiring at all, hence a major problem that needs proactive intervention by the African leaders. Even though a giant leap was made to ensure that AfCFTA came to force, it still faced many challenges regarding implementations. This paper utilised literature review research approach by sourcing and retrieving germane scholarly works in the field from Google Scholar, thoroughly reviewed them and applied them to address the problems identified. The paper concluded that the AfCFTA is a potential tool for promoting and ensuring socio-economic growth and development, social cohesion, inclusivity, poverty alleviation, job creation and integration of Africans within Africa.
For five decades, the world has been shifting from apartness and strict barriers into a single entity in all spheres of society, which involves economic, social, technological, cultural, political, and legal aspects. These changes and movements in the world are called globalisation. Among the elements that make up globalisation, world free trade is one of the major components. With concerns that erupted from the anti-globalisation movements, international business analysts and scholars concerning the exploitation of undeveloped countries by the developed in world free trade, and the commodity export and import dependence of the African continent on the world market without value, the African continent saw a need to create and implement the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AFCFTA), where African countries can trade with each other. Although the literature is still lacking, some scholars and organisations, such as the World Bank, have touched on some of the impact of AFCFTA on the African economy. The major fly in the ointment is how AFCFTA may be reconfigured to assist African countries to compete sustainably in the world market as equal and respectable traders without being exploited. Therefore, this study seeks to explore and analyse the impact of AFCFTA on the African continent and how it can be reconfigured to work sustainably competitive for African economy on World free trade. Methodologically, qualitative research is used to collect and analyse the available data and has since found out that the implementation of AFCFTA has a positive impact on the African economy and that there is a strong need to reconfigure AFCFTA and give reconfiguration strategies to help African countries trade fruitfully in the world market. In adopting the stated methodology, thematic analysis was employed to meet the objectives of the study.
This study considers the extent to which application of the principle of uti possidetis effectively contributed to conflict management in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). A comparative historical research method involving Literature was used for data collection. Consequent on the fact that some conflicting parties sometimes hold on to the right of self-determination, which is a rule of customary international law, makes it challenging to successfully apply the uti possidetis doctrine in the management of territorial border disputes.
This paper sought to prompt rethinking, retooling and remodelling the role of parliamentary diplomacy in the formulation and execution of foreign policy in Zimbabwe. This is in view of the findings from a study the researcher (Gwakwara, 2022) conducted at the Parliament of Zimbabwe, titled “The Role of Parliament of Zimbabwe in Foreign Policy Formulation and Execution (2000-2017)”. The study conducted at the Parliament of Zimbabwe sought to complement studies on parliamentary diplomacy as a critical component of Zimbabwe’s foreign policy, an ultimately critical tool in shaping and controlling foreign policy. It was guided by the social contract theory and role theory. The research used a mixed research methodology. A convenient sample of 70 was interviewed and responded to the survey. Furthermore, an assortment of newspaper articles, documents and other relevant literature on the role of parliamentary diplomacy in foreign policy formulation were also used. The study concluded that the Parliament of Zimbabwe’s involvement in inter-parliamentary bodies (parliamentary diplomacy) from 2000 to 2017 did not make much impact on the executive’s foreign policy position as it lacked substance and vigour due to lack of knowledge, resources, fear of the sponsoring party and an intensely domineering executive. These findings prompted the researchers to propose ways in which retooling and remodelling can assist the Parliament of Zimbabwe to be more effective in the formulation and execution of the country’s foreign policy.
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