International Cooperation

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is characterised by its diversity in political systems, economic conditions, and social structures. It is home to a mix of high-income countries such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, as well as low-income and conflict-affected states like Yemen and Iraq. This diversity creates a complex environment for think tanks. Political instability in some areas, coupled with economic uncertainty, presents a challenging landsca ...

This paper examines the complex interplay between global climate ambitions and national interests within the New South—defined as a diverse group of emerging economies, each pursuing distinct geopolitical strategies, economic priorities, and development goals—seen through a realist lens at the COP29 climate summit. As the climate crisis deepens, the geopolitical stakes involved in climate governance become more pronounced. The New South, grappling with the dual challenges of economi ...

Significant historical milestones have redefined global power structures and shaped the evolution of transatlantic relations. From the Peace of Westphalia to the end of the Cold War, international relations have undergone major transitions. The fall of the Soviet Union and the dissolution of the Eastern Bloc created new dynamics within the transatlantic alliance, offering both challenges and opportunities for Western countries to realign their strategies in a rapidly changing world. ...

This paper explores the urgent need for a paradigm shift in humanitarian aid within conflict and post-conflict settings in the MENA region, advocating for a ‘developmental humanitarianism’ approach that integrates immediate relief with long-term development goals. Focusing on the limitations of traditional aid, particularly in protracted crises such as in Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon, and Gaza, the paper argues for innovative financing mechanisms and a realist perspective that aligns humani ...

Subsea data cables are essential to the functioning of today’s globally and digitally connected economies and societies. The world’s emails, bank transfers, WhatsApp messages, and social media posts travel through undersea cables. Dependence on this infrastructure continues to deepen, leading states and regional organizations to recognize the need to provide adequate protection to an infrastructure that is fragile and vulnerable to unintentional (and intentional) disruption.   ...

The issue of migration between Europe and Africa is not just a humanitarian or social dilemma, but a strategic challenge that will shape the twenty-first century. At its core, it reflects the collision of powerful forces—migration, climate change, human development, energy resources, rare commodities, and demographic pressures—each with significant geopolitical implications. Among these, migration, climate change, and human development stand out as critical issues that exacerbate an ...

The bilateral relationship between Morocco and India has passed through three distinct phases, culminating in the current stage of strategic partnership. Initially marked by diplomatic formalities and limited engagement, the relationship gradually transitioned into a period of economic and cultural exchange, laying the groundwork for more substantial collaboration. This Policy Paper analyzes the historical trajectory of Morocco-India relations, tracing the development from these ear ...

  This paper was originally published on t20brasil.org The resurgence of Neo protectionism as a reality is creating a pressing need to establish New Industrial Policies (NIPs) capable of striking a balance between Global Value Chains (GVC) managers' quest for efficiency and policy makers' need for more increasing resilience or national security in a turmoiled geopolitical landscape. Furthermore, although NIPs might pursue legitimate non-economic objectives, they are often captured ...

Le minilatéralisme, approche flexible et rapide de la coopération internationale, s'avère efficace pour relever des défis communs entre un petit nombre d'États. Inspiré du « Dialogue 5+5 » méditerranéen, ce concept est proposé pour renforcer la coopération euro-africaine dans l'espace atlantique, en créant un forum « 3+3 » réunissant l'Espagne, la France, le Portugal, le Maroc, la Mauritanie et le Sénégal. Ce cadre permettrait de répondre aux enjeux sécuritaires, économiques et migr ...

The UN-led Summit for the Future represents both a significant opportunity and a formidable challenge for global development. While its ambitious agenda has the potential to drive meaningful progress, it also faces substantial obstacles that could impede its success. By learning from past experiences, fostering genuine multilateral cooperation, and ensuring clear and accountable commitments, the Summit can enhance the prospects for development. Ultimately, the Summit’s success will ...

Immigration has never been without tensions. In the United States, immigration remains a contentious issue that now, more than ever, dominates election campaigns. A 727-kilometer wall has been constructed on the US-Mexico border to halt the influx of migrants from the south. In Europe, the rise of far-right parties over the past twenty years has culminated in them becoming a major political force in the European Parliament ahead of the June 2024 elections. The tension around immigr ...

The 13 kilometer-square settlement near Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, is a symbol of human failure. Kutupalong does not harvest diamonds, rare earth, or oil; rather it produces misery. It houses refugees—one million plus. Most are Rohingya people, Muslims driven out of their homes in the state of Rakhine, Myanmar, formerly a British colony known as Burma, wedged between India and China with 50 million citizens and 135 ethnic groups. Kutupalong is the world’s largest refugee camp, densely ...

This Paper was originally published on euromesco.net   In 2004 the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) became the policy framework setting the scene for EU interactions with its neighbours. The launch of this policy framework occurred in a context of relative stability and peace in Europe’s neighbourhood, at a time when the EU was redrawing its borders through the 2004 big bang enlargement. Nonetheless, the ENP was doomed to face a panoply of conflicts, crises, and even wars. No o ...

Cet article examine l'évolution des relations entre les États-Unis d’Amérique et l'Afrique, en mettant en lumière la nature cyclique de l'engagement américain et ses implications pour les deux parties. Historiquement, l'Afrique n'a pas été une priorité constante dans la politique étrangère américaine, avec des périodes de collaboration intense alternant avec des moments de négligence relative. Depuis la fin de la guerre froide, l'engagement des États- Unis en Afrique e ...

En mars 2024, la Commission européenne a annoncé, à Bruxelles, le lancement d'un partenariat sur les migrations avec la Mauritanie. Ylva Johanasson, Commissaire aux affaires intérieures, et Mohamed Ahmed Ould Mohamed Lemine, ministre mauritanien de l'Intérieur et de la décentralisation, ont signé une déclaration commune officialisant ledit partenariat. La Commission européenne a annoncé les principes directeurs de l'accord, qui résonnent sans surprise avec le dernier pact ...

The Alliance of Sahel States (AES), created on September 16, 2023, brings together Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso under a mutual defense agreement. The signing of the charter relating to this alliance, which bears the name Liptako-Gourma, was followed by meetings and plans for initiatives that will push the new structure further towards statutes for the alliance, transforming it into a confederation. As an intermediate measure, the three states have already envisaged the creation of ...

Tanks Are Not Yet Deployed Containers are in place, razor wire and metal barriers, nine meters high. Dogs sniff for illegal intruders, spyware registers noise, alerting border patrol units to people approaching the border, trying to evade National Guard troops. Tanks, mind you, have not yet been deployedon the 1954 miles (3145 kilometer) border between Mexico and the U.S. Migrants who approach dare to pass through ferocious desert, climb harsh mountains, jump on freight trains pass ...

L’actualité politique en Afrique est marquée par une série de ruptures qui fait écarquiller les yeux de certains observateurs. Une vague de coups d’État, le retrait de la France de certains pays du continent, la fin du G5 Sahel, la création de l’Alliance des États du Sahel (AES) et le disloquement d’une des Communautés économiques régionales (CER) les plus « intégrées » d’Afrique, la CEDEAO, sont des évènements, tantôt perçus comme une bouffée d’air frais et un espoir de renouveau a ...

Most high-income countries will experience declines in their populations over the next few decades. Some negative consequences of aging are on the horizon: greater fiscal imbalances and risks of economic stagnation. Immigration may by a way for those countries to mitigate the tendency. On the source side of immigration flows, brain drain is a risk. The policy paper presents the case of Japan, a nation that has grappled with the consequences of a declining and aging population fo ...

L’Alliance des États du Sahel (AES), créée le 16 septembre 2023, rassemble dans un accord de défense mutuelle le Mali, le Niger et le Burkina Faso. La signature de la charte afférente à cette alliance qui porte le nom du Liptako-Gourma a été suivie de rencontre et de projets d’initiatives qui poussent plus loin la nouvelle structure vers des statuts de l’alliance pour la transformer en confédération. Comme mesure intermédiaire, les trois États ont d’ores et déjà envisa ...

Nusrat Farooq is an international security and policy expert whose research is at the intersection of emerging technology, international relations, and trust and safety. She is a 2022 alumna of the Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders program. Learn more about her here.   With the advent of social media more than a decade ago, and now with the emergence of generative artificial intelligence, international security has become increasingly complex in terms of its cross-sectoral and t ...

The destruction of a vibrant and historic nation, sprinkled with color and culture, turned into a footnote of geopolitics. The more than 377,000 war victims disappeared from global headlines. The official fighting ended in Yemen on March 29, 2022. A ceasefire was declared by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition and the rebellious Houthis. China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, praised “the wave of reconciliation” that swept across the region. The main foreign supporter of Yemen’s Houthi—Iran— ...

The Atlantic Basin has long lacked diplomatic and political initiatives embracing it as a whole. In that regard, it stands out from other oceans, as focus on the North Atlantic has largely overshadowed the "Rest". Nevertheless, a series of recent initiatives point to a possible solution to this long institutional absence. Building on decades of reflection and recent momentum, an emerging pan-Atlanticism might be on the horizon. ...

It gives me pleasure to introduce the 2023 edition of Atlantic Currents, the annual report on Atlantic affairs which the Policy Center for the New South has issued since 2014. For this 10th edition, experts from 27 countries were invited to state their views on dynamics of interest to our shared ocean. Their respective inputs made this issue the culmination of a decade of investigation, studies, and analyses that can help understand better the multifaceted challenges and opportunit ...

The Policy Center for the New South, under the High Patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, has hosted the 11th edition of its annual Atlantic Dialogues International Conference in Marrakech from December 14 to 16, 2022. Over 350 guests from 60 different countries have taken part in this first in-person edition in three years, under the theme “Cooperation in a Mutating World: Opportunities of the Wider Atlantic”. The most recent edition in this format, held in 2019 address “The S ...

Les Dialogues Stratégiques, une collaboration entre HEC Center for Geopolitics et Policy Center fort he New South, représentent une plateforme d'analyse et d'échange biannuelle réunissant des experts, des praticiens, des décideurs politiques, ainsi que el monde universitaire et les médias au service d'une réflexion critique et approfondie sur les tendances politiques mondiales et sur une problématique d'intérêt régional, d'importance commune à al fois pour l'Europe et l'Afrique. Ce ...

This report was originally published on hss.de   This report presents an analysis and recommendations regarding EU-Africa relations with a focus on the green transition and energy, the first priority area of the EU’s Comprehensive Strategy with Africa. It aims at identifying the areas in climate and energy policy in which jointly owned cooperation is possible, and how the partnership, ultimately, can unlock mutual benefits. Specifically, the report examines global challenges prese ...

Like many countries of the Global South, South Africa espouses an independent, non-aligned approach to foreign policy. This approach has been criticized during the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war as a superficial excuse to be ‘soft’ on Russia. Deeper reflection and analysis however, points to a finely calibrated multi-alignment strategy, which allows South Africa to secure its national interests while carefully balancing relations with the United States (U.S.), European Union (EU) and ot ...

This brief was originally published in gmfus.org   The EU is increasing, at home and abroad, its use of state-of-the-art technologies in its border management. But guarantees of their consistently appropriate use are lacking. Migration increasingly involves digital tools. Internet, smartphones, and social media are of paramount importance for people on the move. Border management is also becoming more digitalized, with technological tools being used to accelerate legal internatio ...

Marianna Albuquerque and Santiago Theoduloz are 2022 alumni of Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders program. Learn more about Marianna here and Santiago here.  From our experience of participating in the ADEL Program and the Atlantic Dialogues in 2022, we learned that the Atlantic countries have the potential to improve their economies through regional coordination. This led us to reflect on how many opportunities the countries from the wider Atlantic missed out on by not considerin ...

The G20, since its emergence in 1999, has played a crucial role in maneuvering the economy, envisaging a new global financial architecture, and steering clear of the roadblocks hindering economic development. Also known as a ‘multilateral economic caucus’, the G20 has served as a platform for both developed and emerging economies to engage in constructive dialogue. Having as a theme Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam or ‘One Earth— One Family—One Future’, India has assumed the leadership of the ...

Fritjof Knier is a 2022 alumnus of Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders program. Learn more about him here. Twice in the past decade the term “largest refugee movement since the Second World War” was coined in Germany and Europe. First in 2015 with many refugees from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran arriving and seven years later in 2022 when the war against Ukraine led millions to flee towards the West. Now, Germany has grown to become the fourth largest refugee hosting nation, h ...

The COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have reignited the debate on efficiency versus resilience in international trade and global value chains (GVCs). This policy brief[a] (i) explains the contrasting perspectives of the private sector (primarily seeking efficiency) and the public sector (aiming for resilience); (ii) demonstrates that GVCs are still flourishing, despite some mounting signals of a geo-fragmentation leading to greater reallocation of the GVCs; and (iii) provide ...

 This brief was originally published on gmfus.org as part of a partnership between the Policy Center for the New South and the German Marshall Fund of the United States.   Air and ocean temperatures are increasing at record levels despite international efforts to mitigate carbon emissions. The consequences of this failure go beyond its harmful effects on climate patterns to endangering global political, economic, and social stability. Human security is on the line and faces even ...

After decades of globalization and integration, the world seems to be fragmenting again, epitomized best, perhaps, by the return of geopolitical crisis, protectionism, unilateral sanctions, treaty withdrawals, and even military and economic coercion. Designed to foster cooperation among states, the multilateral system put in place after the Second World War grew quickly to encompass economic development, international security, global health, human rights, and environmental issues. ...

مرت تسعة وعشرون عاما منذ أن انطلقت رواندا في مسار تحقيق المصالحة الوطنية بعد أحداث الإبادة الجماعية التي ارتكبتها حكومة الهوتو الخاضعة لسيطرة المتطرفين، والتي استهدفت أقلية التوتسي خلال مئة يوم إلى حين دخول الجبهة الوطنية الرواندية البلاد. حيث اعتمدت على الآليات المحلية التي جمعت بين المقاربات الشمولية والمحلية القائمة على الثقافة، كما شملت استجابات قضائية وغير قضائية تفاعلية ووقائية، علاوة على إطلاق مجموعة من الإصلاحات الدستورية، المؤسساتية والقطاعية. غير أن هذا المسار، لم يخل من ...

This policy paper examines India’s growing engagement in North Africa, focusing on five countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt. Despite lacking a distinct regional policy for North Africa, India has amplified its bilateral engagement with these countries, underpinned by a steadfast commitment to the principle of South-South cooperation. Through its strategic moves in North Africa, India has established a powerful southern-west axis for its foreign policy that stretch ...

In an attempt to bring the World Cup back to Europe and Africa, Morocco has joined Spain and Portugal in a three-way bid to host the 2030 FIFA World Cup. While there are still talks of Ukraine remaining in the bid, the three confirmed countries are hoping to score big with major economic, cultural, and political benefits. Although not as large as the Olympics in terms of logistics, the FIFA World Cup is one of the most prestigious and watched sporting events in the world. Early figu ...

The member countries of the International Monetary Fund decided in 2021 to create a new tranche of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) for a sum equivalent to $650 billion. Under the Fund's usual rules, Africa as a whole would receive only a small share of this ($33 billion). Consequently, a number of advanced countries have offered to give Africa a share of their new SDR allocations, so that Africa will receive a total of $100 billion. This Policy Brief provides an update on this topic. ...

Les pays membres du FMI (Fonds monétaire international) ont décidé en 2021 de créer une nouvelle tranche de DTS pour une somme équivalente à 650 milliards de dollars. En appliquant les règles habituelles du Fonds, l’Afrique prise globalement n’en recevrait qu’une faible part (33 milliards). C’est pourquoi un certain nombre de pays avancés ont proposé de reverser à l’Afrique une part de leur nouvelle allocation de DTS, afin que le continent africain reçoive au total 100 mi ...

The North Sea has been an important energy hub for many European countries for centuries. It is home to many natural resources, from oil and natural gas, to wind and wave energy, making it a powerhouse of energy production. In recent decades, the North Sea has seen significant investment in energy infrastructure and innovation, allowing many of these resources to be harnessed and used to supply energy to much of Europe. Furthermore, the North Sea has become more important for Europe ...

This publication provides an insight into the lens through which countries of the Global South view the current period of successive crises, brought about by an ongoing global pandemic and a war in Europe. It highlights how the combined weight of history, culture, and geography has shaped the Global South’s interests and is influencing its foreign policy stance during one of the most dangerous periods of Great-Power competition in recent times—one that could see the fracturing of th ...

This ninth edition of “Atlantic Currents” appears in an international context marked predominantly by a ten month-war between Russia and Nato members that began February 2022. The war is affecting not only the European and American member States directly and actively involved in an unprecedented manner, but more importantly the countries of the global South that have suffered collateral damage. Indeed, the nations of the world were barely out of the most painful and costly phase o ...

One aim of COP27 was to persuade countries to make commitments to reduce emissions and earmark resources for technologies to be transferred from industrialized states to less developed states. Hovering over the COP27 was the reluctance of wealthy states to live up to their 2009 commitment to provide $100 billion to poor countries, financial assistance for adaptation (as opposed to just mitigation projects), and more compensation for what the Paris Agreement termed “loss and damage,” ...

Le présent travail s’intéresse à la question de l’accompagnement et la réintégration des travailleuses marocaines saisonnières en Espagne. Il met en avance l’existence de déficits à plusieurs niveaux. Des plus importants sont : une inclusion financière et un accompagnement en matière de renforcement de l’employabilité ; un accompagnement en matière d’alphabétisation financière ; un accompagnement en matière de création, et post-création, d'activités génératrices de revenus ; un acco ...

This chapter was originally published in the book "Africa–Europe Cooperation and Digital Transformation", co-edited by Chux Daniels, Benedikt Erfoth, and Chloe Teevan Since the mid-2010s, North African countries have been pursuing what some observers have called a “return to Africa” (Dworkin, 2020). Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia have attempted to position themselves as major components of Europe- Mediterranean-Africa infrastructure and supply chains corridors (Tanchum, 2020). The thr ...

Les Dialogues stratégiques, une collaboration entre le HEC Center for Geopolitics et le Policy Center for the New South représentent une plateforme d'analyse et d'échange biannuelle réunissant des experts, des praticiens, des décideurs politiques ainsi que le monde universitaire et les médias au service d'une réflexion critique et approfondie sur les tendances politiques mondiales et les grandes questions d'importance commune pour l'Europe et l'Afrique. Cette publication est issue ...

A merchant ship passed Turkey’s Bosphorus  Strait on its way from Syria to Russia late last month, observed “Bloomberg”( August 9, 2022), transporting military equipment, including trucks, documented by satellite imagery. The “Sparta II”, a cargo ship leased by Oboronlogistika to the Russian military, was on its way from Tartus to the Black Sea harbor Novorosslysk. No tanks were sighted, or Russian fighter jets, just these trucks, but   the moderate value of the cargo, noted Bloom ...

Les responsables des États du Maghreb aimaient donner en exemple l’expérience de la Corée du Sud : ils semblaient signifier que grâce à ses périodes autoritaires elle a pu accéder au développement économique, voire à la puissance économique et, du coup, à la démocratie. La Corée du Sud a développé sa présence économique mais aussi politique et culturelle dans les pays de la région maghrébine à partir de plusieurs entrées : les relations avec l’ensemble de la re ...

Si l’Afrique est de nos jours convoitée par de nombreux acteurs (Turquie, Chine, Russie, etc..), le Japon y renforce et diversifie sa présence. Deuxième contributeur de la Banque africaine de développement (BAD), le pays du « soleil levant » s’implante en Afrique centrale, du Nord et de l’Est, avec un focus sur le domaine technique avec des objectifs très précis (nouvelles technologies, sécurité alimentaire, infrastructures). C’est cependant un partenaire qui privilégie la discrétio ...

Le rôle de la Cedeao (Communauté économique des États de l’Afrique de l’Ouest) dans la gestion des conflits ayant eu lieu à la fin du 20ème siècle et au début du 21ème siècle revêt une importance capitale. Dès sa création, l’organisation régionale représentait le symbole de l’avancement démocratique dans ses pays membres mais elle doit aujourd’hui faire face à un recul en termes de gouvernance démocratique et d’influence. Elle s’est imposée comme étant la plus av ...

The timing was perfect for analyzing the “African Security in times of uncertainties”. The Rabat-based “Policy Center For The New South” programmed its  6th “African Peace d Security Annual Conference” (APSACO) on July 20/21 to focus on the historic challenge of our time-the world,  Africa in particular, struggling to find stability while war s waged in Central Europe, and 25 million tons of wheat and fertilizers needed to feed the starving population, millions on the African contin ...

Sleepless nights and the tireless search for compromise allowed WTO members to agree on concrete deliverables during the WTO 12th Ministerial Conference held last June. Those results reinforce Multilateralism. And this is a significant gain given the multiplicity of global crises that surround us. The Outcome include 6 Agreements, Declarations and Ministerial Decisions that respond to some of today's challenges, notably on Fisheries and Ocean Sustainability as well as responses to P ...

Western states are increasingly sending asylum-seekers caught at their borders to states in the Global South, in violation of humanitarian principles about the right to asylum. Critics have also noted the racial dimensions of this policy, asking why Ukrainian refugees aren’t being sent to Rwanda for processing or resettlement? What has not received attention in this discussion is how, in response to internal and external pressures, African states are developing migration management ...

Foreign aid has a well-established and significant role in international relations. The role of foreign aid in the repertoire of international development programs is extensively documented, with its goal being the promotion of human and economic development. Foreign aid can be defined as “all forms of assistance that a country derives from other governments or multilateral agencies and financial institutions to fill noticeable gaps, especially in production, savings, and investment ...

Les missions militaires de l’Union européenne (UE) en Afrique revêtent aujourd’hui, à l’heure de la réinvention du partenariat euro-africain, une importance considérable. Alors que Bruxelles entend plus que jamais s’imposer comme l’un des garants de la sécurité au niveau mondial, tout en se mesurant aux nouveaux rapports de force mondiaux, elle tient parallèlement à devenir un acteur incontournable en matière de paix, de surcroît motivé par la prolifération des risques ...

A principle seems to be establishing itself as a basic tenet of refugee and irregular-migration management policies in host countries in Europe and elsewhere: if you do not want refugees, pay to keep them in, or ‘outsource’ them to, poorer countries. But this raises some basic moral, political, and even financial questions. The approach was pioneered by Australia, which in 2012 began shipping migrants who arrived on its shores irregularly by boat to Papua New Guinea and Nauru in t ...

Three questions to Jamal Machrouh   This article was initially published on https://www.institutmontaigne.org/   Morocco was among the countries not taking part in the March 2 UN General Assembly vote following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This position raised questions in Europe as Morocco is Europe's largest partner in the Maghreb. Jamal Machrouh, Senior Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, sheds light on Morocco's perceived neutrality in the Ukrainian conflict in o ...

From socio-economic crises to the scourges of war, through natural disasters and environmental degradation, the world's history is marked by events leading to mass migration, exacerbating the phenomenon of climate refugees. Today, environmental phenomena prompt many inhabitants to choose exile in search of more stable horizons. It is essential to note that no legal text, either global or regional, considers the case of climate refugees. Given the lack of a specific legal regime for ...

Les Dialogues stratégiques, une collaboration entre le HEC Center for Geopolitics et le Policy Center for the New South représentent une plateforme d’analyse et d’échange biannuelle réunissant des experts, des praticiens, des décideurs politiques ainsi que le monde universitaire et les médias au service d’une réflexion critique et approfondie sur les tendances politiques mondiales et les grandes questions d’importance commune pour l’Europe et l’Afrique. Cette publication est ...

L’année 2022 s’annonce décisive pour le leadership chinois. Après l’organisation des « Jeux olympiques d’hiver », en février, la tenue des ‘‘deux sessions’’ du Parlement, en mars, marque officiellement le début des préparatifs d’un événement de taille de la vie politique chinoise : le XXème Congrès du Parti communiste (PCC) qui se tiendra en novembre prochain. Ce Congrès est important, en ce sens qu’il devra se traduire par l’élection d’un nouveau secrétaire général dudit Parti et, ...

How did an insurrection in Northern Mozambique escalate into a crisis that is drawing myriad external actors, and risks destabilizing the region? What are the colonial and Cold War origins of this conflict in Cabo Delgado? Why is Rwanda such a prominent intervener? How are tensions between Kigali, Maputo and Pretoria playing out in the peacekeeping operation now underway? ...

L’engagement des acteurs extérieurs au niveau du continent africain ainsi que sa nature n’ont cessé d’évoluer. Si au début des années 90 l’intérêt pour le continent ainsi que l’attractivité dont celui-ci jouissait semblaient s’être quelque peu dissipés, le début du 21ème siècle a marqué un regain d’intérêt et une nouvelle perception de l’Afrique. L’évolution des dynamiques géopolitiques à l’échelle mondiale a réorienté la vision des acteurs extérieurs concerna ...

President Tshisekedi embarked on a significant overhaul of the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) foreign policy and objectives in 2019. This policy shift stands out for the notable international and continental activism, enabling the DRC to put an end to the diplomatic isolation it faced since 2016, restart cooperation with a number of key partners, and revitalize the country’s role in international organizations and regional economic communities. This Policy Brief attempts to ex ...

African states are in a vulnerable position. The invasion of Ukraine could affect food security and trigger a spike in oil prices, inflicting economic duress on African households. The Black Sea region is home to vast fertile farmlands, and war in the “breadbasket of the world” could threaten wheat and fertilizer supplies. Increased economic hardship and social discontent do not bode well for democratic governance in Africa, especially in light of the recent spate of military coups. ...

“Turkey’s turn to Africa is the result of several factors: the economic liberalization process undertaken in the 1990s, Ankara’s aim for greater voice in international institutions, and Turkey's rivalry with Egypt and the Gulf states. Scholars have observed that Turkey's public diplomacy, which some have dubbed the “Ankara consensus” is consciously designed as an alternative to the Washington consensus of neoliberal economic growth and the Beijing consensus of state-led growth, that ...

The 2021 German federal election brought about a historic reshuffle of the political parties’ hierarchy in Europe’s biggest economy. The Social Democratic Party are back in control of the Chancellery for the first time since 2005, as part of a three-party coalition at the federal level with the Greens and the Liberals, a first in Germany’s post-war history. Now, the federal government has turned its gaze towards its founding mission: more progress. The first 100 days of the three-pa ...

Although it has largely gone unnoticed in France, the agreement signed on December 3, 2020 between the European Union (EU) and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (ACP) is a major shift in the long-standing relations between the EU and countries in the Global South. The EU established a development assistance policy as early as the Treaty of Rome in 1957, signed the first cooperation agreement in 1963, and nowadays is often the largest donor to these countries, ...

The pros and the cons of regional market integration are well exemplified by the experience of Uruguay, a small, open economy in MERCOSUR, which is a highly protectionist trade bloc, dominated by Argentina and Brazil. With access to such large markets, Uruguay did raise its growth rate during the first decade of MERCOSUR, the 1990s. However, market integration as implemented in MERCOSUR was also problematic in that Uruguay suffered from the high protectionism of Argentina in the for ...

The contrast between Argentina’s rich natural resource endowment and its poor economic performance has been the focus of much socio-political and economic analysis. When it created MERCOSUR with its immediate neighbors, Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay in 1991, it had access to a trading bloc with a combined GDP of US$ 419 trillion (2019), making it the 5th largest economy in the world. Joining the MERCOSUR was a break from its protectionist past. But it did not last. Argentina greatl ...

Due to historical as well as geographical reasons, India and East Africa have long been close partners. In the recent period however, and even more so since the early 2000s, these ties have tightened as a result of combined efforts by the government of India and its business community. The presence of communities of Indian origin in several East African countries has also acted as a catalyst. East Africa is perceived as a valuable partner both by Indian authorities and by Indian pr ...

Le Sommet Union européenne (UE) - Union africaine (UA), qui s’est tenu à Bruxelles les 17 et 18 février 2022, entend marquer un tournant dans les relations entre les deux continents. L’agenda européen pour l’année 2022 met au centre de ses priorités les relations Europe - Afrique. Celles-ci sont aussi l'un des principaux axes défendus par la Présidence française du Conseil de l’Union européenne (PFUE) et le Président français Emmanuel Macron dans de son discours inaugur ...

Their boat-if you name a large rubber pumped up like a giant tire, was rocked by waves, and the engine halted its movements. On November 24, all the 29 passengers tried to reach coastguard stations in France and England via their cell phones few minutes between life and death. No one answered, and when finally contact was established by another, still floating migrant boat, witnessing the tragedy in the making (New York Times December 14, 2021), they were asked to pinpoint their l ...

The African Union (AU) and the European Union (EU) have never struggled to list common areas of interest or set up thematic partnerships and joint initiatives. The persistent challenge however is translating these partnerships into impact for both blocs of nations, particularly where interests diverge, such as those related to migration and green transition. Fifteen years since the critical Lisbon summit and the Joint Africa-EU Strategy, the time to move is now. To make the partners ...

In a country as stable as Germany, changes of Chancellor are a rarity. Angela Merkel stayed in power for sixteen years, as did Helmut Kohl in his time. The new three-party coalition (Social Democrats, Greens, Liberals) intends to shake up the country. How should Africa approach this new leadership? Can the new government bring momentum to Euro-African relations? Can Berlin bring about a clear understanding of Africa’s development issues and geopolitical subtleties? ...

Le président Tshisekedi a initié, à partir de 2019, une refonte significative de la politique étrangère de la République démocratique du Congo (RDC) et des objectifs qui lui sont assignés. Cette redéfinition stratégique, marquée par un important activisme sur les plans international et continental, a permis à la RDC de briser l’isolement diplomatique auquel elle faisait face depuis 2016, de reprendre la coopération avec plusieurs partenaires importants et de redynamiser sa présence ...

Le président français Emmanuel Macron a de grandes ambitions pour l'Union européenne. Sa doctrine est d'approfondir l'intégration politique de l'Union. Donner à l'Europe l'esprit et les moyens pour faire face aux bouleversements écologiques, sécuritaires, énergétiques et technologiques qui menacent la place de l'Union dans un monde en profondes ruptures. La présidence française du Conseil de l'Union européenne pour le premier semestre 2022 est pleine de défis, mais c'est l'occasion ...

Dans un pays aussi stable que l’Allemagne, les changements de Chancelier sont rares. Angela Merkel est restée seize ans au pouvoir, tout comme en son temps Helmut Kohl. La nouvelle coalition à trois partis (sociaux-démocrates, verts, libéraux) entend faire bouger le pays. Comment l’Afrique doit-elle aborder le nouveau pouvoir ? Celui-ci peut-il insuffler de la dynamique aux relations euro-africaines ? Peut-on attendre de Berlin une appréhension fine des enjeux de développement et de ...

Ce Policy Brief se propose d’apporter un éclairage sur la nouvelle place du Sud dans les relations internationales et le rôle que peut jouer le Maroc dans cet essor. Il existe, en effet, des opportunités pour le Royaume du Maroc de représenter et d’accompagner son continent d’appartenance, l’Afrique, pour la promotion des narratifs alternatifs, notamment sur les questions du changement climatique et de la migration. ...

Thanks to the positive momentum in transatlantic relations brought about by the arrival of the Biden administration, significant progress is expected on a range of key digital issues. New rules are emerging that are designed to level the playing field for economic actors and ensure the respect of civil liberties, while significant new investments in technological innovation are taking place amid considerable industrial reorganizations. This paper proposes to shed light on seven part ...

Between January 2020 and June 2021, the world spent about US $16.5 trillion (18% of world GDP) to fight COVID-19, and this amount does not even include the most important losses such as deaths, mental health effects, restrictions on human freedom, and other nonmonetary suffering. Nearly 90% of this amount was spent by developed economies; the rest by emerging market and developing economies. Low-income countries spent just US $12.5 billion, or less than 0.0001% of the total. Moreove ...

Pourquoi ce thème ? Pourquoi, alors que nous traversons une pandémie sans précédent, l'auteur a-t-il décidé de comprendre les liens entre la Chine, l'espace arabo-africain et les nouvelles routes de la soie ? À cause du Covid-19, le monde se trouve à un tournant historique et stratégique du processus de mondialisation. Selon ses observations (comme homme politique), cette pandémie est bien plus qu'une crise sanitaire, c'est une crise globale qui a des impacts sociaux, économiques, ...

Bien qu’il soit assez largement passé inaperçu en France, l’accord signé le 3 décembre 2020 entre l’Union européenne (UE) et l’Organisation des États d’Afrique, des Caraïbes et du Pacifique (ACP) représente un virage important dans les relations anciennes entre l’UE et les pays du Sud. Cette dernière a développé une politique d’aide dès le Traité de Rome en 1957, a signé le premier accord de coopération en 1963 et est aujourd’hui souvent le premier bailleur de ces pays, notamment en ...

How close are we to the apocalypse, human culture, democracy, wisdom, thrown back in time and reduced to the mind of Neanderthals? Remember them, 40 000 years ago? Or back to the days of the dinosaurs, 233 million years gone by, yet unforgotten, thanks to Hollywood. Gone are the mammoths, the cave men, the pest and cholera and wars, which lasted 30 years. Compared with the devastation of the “black death”, a bubonic plague pandemic (1347 to 1353), which caused the death of up to 20 ...

Depuis l’accession au trône du Roi Mohammed VI, l’Afrique s’est transformée en priorité de la diplomatie marocaine. Sur le plan économique, l’Afrique est devenue le prolongement naturel du Maroc en termes d’investissements et d’implantations. Pascal Chaigneau s’attarde sur les relations affaiblies Europe-Afrique, l’ambitieuse relation Chine-Afrique ainsi que les relations entre la Russie, les Etats-Unis, la Turquie ou encore les pays du Golf et l’Afrique. Ce chapitre traite égalemen ...

Le mandat d’Angela Merkel est arrivé à son terme, après 16 ans au pouvoir en tant que chancelière de l’Allemagne. Au cours de sa carrière, Angela Merkel, femme politique issue des rangs du parti conservateur, s’est hissée en tant que dirigeante de la quatrième puissance mondiale et première économie de l'Union européenne. Angela Merkel a réussi à dominer les scènes politiques européenne et internationale en s’imposant comme l'une des femmes les plus puissantes et influentes du monde ...

The role played by diasporas in international relations should not be neglected. Bilateral engagements between states can be significantly affected by the practical and perspective relations between the diaspora community and their homeland. In the African context, none has been so deeply incorporated into the economic and social fabric of the continent as the Indian diaspora. Historically symbolized by Gandhi’s emblematic sojourn in South Africa and the participation of Indian inde ...

Annoncé le 16 septembre dernier, l’arrêt définitif de l’enquête annuelle sur le climat des affaires est une erreur. Véritable référence pour l’analyse économique et entrepreneuriale dans 190 pays, c’est un instrument perfectible, mais indispensable. Dans la foulée d’une enquête indépendante menée par le cabinet d’avocats WilmerHale, qui pointait les pressions inopportunes exercées par la Chine et par d’autres pays lors de la préparation de son rapport annuel Doing Business, la Banq ...

Les faits ont été largement relayés par la presse : le mardi 28 septembre, le porte-parole du gouvernement français, Gabriel Attal, confirmait sur le plateau de la chaine de télévision Europe 1 la décision de réduire « drastiquement » le nombre de visas accordés aux citoyens des pays du Maghreb (pour la Tunisie un 30% et pour le Maroc et l’Algérie du 50% par rapport aux chiffres de 2020, déjà très bas à cause de la pandémie). Le porte-parole a expliqué cette décision par le fait que ...

Ursula von der Leyen’s European Commission has placed Africa at the heart of the European Union’s external action strategy, signaling to Washington, Moscow, and Beijing that the “geopolitical commission”[1] intends to carve itself a genuine place in the current rivalry for world leadership. Von der Leyen’s first trip abroad as European Commission president was to the institutional heart of Africa, in Addis Ababa, where she met African leaders and vowed that Africa and Europe will no ...

La victoire éclair des Talibans en Afghanistan remet sur le devant de la scène un projet énergétique dont il est question depuis plus de 20 ans. Il s’agit d’un gazoduc qui relierait le Turkménistan au Pakistan et à l’Inde, en passant par l’Afghanistan. Le nom de ce projet est TAPI pour Turkménistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan et Inde. La logique derrière ce projet est très simple. Le Turkménistan a beaucoup de gaz naturel, puisque ce pays occupe le quatrième rang parmi les détenteurs de ...

The EU and Africa aim to put their cooperation on a new footing. Thus, the EU Commission proposed in March 2020 close future relations based on five partnerships: 1) for green transition and energy access; 2) for digital transformation; 3) for sustainable growth and jobs; 4) for peace and governance; and 5) on migration and mobility. Hopefully, both sides can discuss and adopt the strategy at the next EU-Africa-Summit. The present study deals precisely with the third aspect, i.e. ec ...

De toutes les régions africaines, le Maghreb est de loin la région la moins intégrée, tant sur le plan politique qu’économique. Pourtant, elle réunit les éléments nécessaires pour créer un ensemble régional ; la proximité géographique, l’interdépendance économique et sociale et l’homogénéité cognitive, plus spécifiquement les similitudes des valeurs. Cette étude traite de la dynamique maghrébine durant l’année 2020, à travers l’analyse des enjeux et de leurs conséquences sur les per ...

With no hesitation, Daniela Varela describes herself as a “good-listener, and a perseverant person with a positive-attitude”. Born and raised in Posadas, Misiones, a province of North-East Argentina bordering Paraguay and Brazil, she knew from a young age she wanted to work in international relations. Today, she is an International affairs advisor in the Ministry of Education of Argentina. She also holds the position of Secretary for International Affairs of the Latin American Asso ...

Over 25 years after the launch of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (EMP) in the 1995 Barcelona Conference, the Mediterranean geographical area continues to be subject to the reflection and conceptualisation of the European Union (EU) with the aim of firmly establishing this strategic neighbourhood relationship and addressing the progress of the inherent challenges. Since then, several initiatives have marked the Euro-Mediterranean framework as stages on the path that claimed to be ...

The BDA Currents: Where Diplomacy Meets Business, is the Brussels Diplomatic Academy’s annual report covering the wider geopolitical and other factors influencing and affecting the world of diplomacy, international relations and global business. The journal focuses on issues of topical interest around the centers of global power, influence and importance, including the continents of Europe and Africa, the Middle East, China, India & Asia, Russia and the Commonwealth of Independe ...

China is the world's largest exporter of goods. It is also, by any plausible criterion, a developing country. China's dual status needs to be better reflected in Chinese policies - recognizing its global responsibilities -- and in those of the Western powers - recognizing China's limitations. Across three important agendas - macroeconomics, development assistance, and climate - important differences between China and the West remain, yet none of these issues appears intractable. ...

Cet article sera publié dans le numéro 173 de la Revue Commentaire. Le président chinois Xi-Jin-Ping et les plus hauts responsables européens se sont accordés fin décembre sur les termes d’un Accord global sur l’investissement (Comprehensive Agreement on Investment, CAI). Le texte reste à formaliser, mais les dirigeants se sont engagés. Pour situer sa portée, rappelons que l’investissement est une compétence récente de l’Union européenne (2008). Concrètement, l’Union n’entend plus ...

Si les migrations en provenance d’Afrique constituent la priorité des politiques européennes de contrôle des frontières extérieures de l’Union européenne (UE), les dynamiques migratoires africaines sont pourtant avant tout régionales. Les migrations subsahariennes sont très peu connectées aux flux transcontinentaux : plus de 70 % restent en Afrique. Si l’on observe le continent dans son ensemble, en y ajoutant les pays du Maghreb et l’Afrique du Sud (deux régions mieux connectées a ...

La crise sanitaire a porté un coup dur au modèle de la coopération internationale au développement par projets, la modalité la plus répandue. Finies (ou presque, ou en tout cas mutées à des modalités de télétravail) les myriades de gestionnaires de projets et d’experts internationaux et nationaux pour des missions de formulation, d’assistance technique, d’évaluation. Plus possibles les formations, les séminaires, les consultations avec la société civile, les dialogues régionaux, les ...

The proposal for a European Union New Pact on Migration and Asylum, submitted by the European Commission on September 23, 2020, for approval by the European Parliament and the European Council, aims to provide a comprehensive response to the challenges posed to EU countries by migration and asylum. It is another step in the politically toxic attempts to reconcile the many fractures dividing Europe around the issue of migration: between the Mediterranean countries of first arrival of ...

“Towards a more impactful leadership” Fluent in English, Yoruba, Portuguese, and Spanish, this US and Nigerian citizen, holding both passports, now lives in Medellin, Colombia. A perfect candidate for the Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders program, she was selected in 2017 to follow the program and take part in the Atlantic Dialogues in Marrakech.   Born in the USA 27 years ago, Idia Irele grew up between Nigeria and the U.S. and moved to Boston when she was 10. Her family follow ...

Les relations politiques entre la Chine et l’Australie se sont fortement dégradées avec, à la clé, la mise en œuvre de la part du géant asiatique de barrières tarifaires et non tarifaires. Si les produits agricoles (orge, bœuf, vin, homards) ont été les premières matières premières à être touchées, les exportations australiennes de gaz naturel liquéfié pourraient également être dans le viseur de Pékin. Canberra dispose, néanmoins, d’une carte maîtresse : son minerai de fer dont le s ...

Coup sur coup, deux accords géants sont venus marquer l’actualité internationale. L’un, est économique et sonne comme un coup de tonnerre : c’est le RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership), vaste accord commercial asiatique, signé le 15 novembre 2020. Cette date restera dans l’histoire comme ayant associé la Chine à un ensemble de pays asiatiques. Il inclut l’ASEAN (Association des Nations d’Asie du Sud-est, à l’initiative de la démarche) mais, aussi, le Japon et la Corée ...

The COVID-19 pandemic has been characterized by a shifting balance of power, with some analysts even predicting a new international order in the making. Emerging powers are contributing to the changing power dynamics by competing to increase the influence they have in political, economic, and security spheres. Africa is one of the key spaces where such strategic efforts have been taking place. In such a context, this paper assesses key drivers of emerging powers’ growing engagement ...

Dans ce huitième ouvrage, le Centre HEC de Géopolitique et le Policy Center for the New South présentent 13 papiers conjoints inspirés de la 8ème édition de la conférence annuelle des Dialogues Stratégiques, et enrichis par les auteurs. Lors de cette rencontre, qui a eu lieu le 17 octobre 2019, deux thèmes majeurs ont été discutés : Les défis de la navalisation et de la maritimisation du monde et l’insularité au sein de l’Union Africaine. Dans la première partie de l’ouvrage, les a ...

The United Nations (UN) General Assembly meets this week (Sept. 22-29) to celebrate its 75th anniversary and address significant global challenges. There is no shortage of them: a global pandemic, a devastating economic crisis, an unprecedented explosion in the number of refugees, and the beginning of a new normal of growing conflicts between the United States and China in the dispute for global hegemony. The circumstances are not very different from that problematic year – 1945 – ...

Avant l'ère coloniale, l'émission d'argent en Afrique de l'Ouest dépendait de la traite des esclaves. Avec l'avènement du régime colonial, les pièces d'argent ont été importées puis progressivement imposées comme outil de coercition. La trajectoire postcoloniale a été différente pour les anciennes colonies britanniques et françaises. Alors que les premières ont retrouvé leur souveraineté monétaire, les secondes ont conservé une union monétaire sous l’égide de la France. La propositi ...

The transformation of the Economic Community of Western African States (ECOWAS) into a « Confederation of States » is sometimes considered, including by the Heads of State of the Community, as a natural next step in the process of deeper integration in West Africa. The purpose of this study is to explore its feasibility and relevance, based on the experience of other continents. A confederation of states can be defined as an association of sovereign states which, by means of an int ...

Parler de de l’Union africaine sans évoquer la place qu’y occupe le Maroc serait incomplet, car le Royaume a contribué activement à la construction africaine, s’en est séparé, en signe de protestation contre le non-respect de la légalité internationale par les organes de la défunte Organisation de l’Unité africaine pour, ensuite, y retourner, dans le cadre de l’Union africaine. Doit-on parler de retour ou d’admission ? Indépendamment de la réponse apportée à cette question, il convi ...

L’Union européenne (UE) et l’Union africaine (UA) vont se retrouver au mois d’octobre 2020 dans un Sixième Sommet du cycle de la Stratégie Conjointe UEAfrique qui les réunit périodiquement depuis l’année 2000. Ce Sommet se profile dans un contexte de turbulences provoqué par le choc pandémique de la Covid-19. Dans cette perspective, l’UE a présenté à l’UA une nouvelle offre de coopération inspirée du « Green Deal », la stratégie géopolitique et économique arrêtée par la nouvelle Com ...

En février 2020, j’ai publié un livre, « La mondialisation et nous », dans lequel j’ai analysé la place du sud dans les grands chamboulements que connaît cette mondialisation. Les mots clés des quatre chroniques contenues dans le présent cahier : vulnérabilité / fragilité / chamboulement / incertitude / imprévisibilité / sidération / régionalisation / relocalisation / santé / environnement / équité / réputation / épreuves / opportunités sont ceux qui sont revenus récurremment sous l ...

Six mois après la remise en question de la présence française au Sahel et l’engagement pris pour accélérer les efforts de lutte contre le terrorisme dans la région, la France, principale puissance impliquée dans la région, rencontre ses partenaires africains pour un point d’étape et lance un message fort à la communauté internationale : là où la France s’engagera, l’Europe s’engagera aussi. Le Président Emmanuel Macron a relevé la montée en gamme des armées locales et les récents d ...

The unshaven man, who did not let go of his Kalashnikoff while we talked, had been wounded in battles with Israeli troops, and was now hiding in the land that those troops had occupied—the Jordan Valley. Yasser Arafat, whom I met for the first time in the spring of 1968 at his secret base, was then still known as Abu Ammar, willing to sacrifice his life for the liberation of his people dispersed by around the world, particularly in neighboring Arab nations. The 1968 interview, Arafa ...

Sur fond d’accusations mutuelles d’absence de volonté politique pour faire aboutir les négociations tripartites impliquant l’Egypte, l’Ethiopie et le Soudan, sur la mise en service du “Grand Barrage de la Renaissance Éthiopienne”  (Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam -GERD), l’Egypte et l’Ethiopie continuent d’alterner des signaux de provocation et d’apaisement. Cette tension gagne en intensité au fur et à mesure que s’approche le mois de juillet, marquant le début du remplissage du ba ...

Prior to the colonial era, money issuance in West Africa depended on slave trade. With the advent of the colonialrule, silver coins were imported then progressively imposed as a tool of coercion. The post-colonial trajectory wasdifferent for former British and French colonies. While the former regained their monetary sovereignty, the lattercontinued under a monetary union under the auspices of France. The proposal of the Eco as a single currency forECOWAS is therefore a whole new st ...

À l’heure actuelle, l’humanité baigne dans une crise profonde dont la portée est universelle. Le constat est sans appel : la pandémie Covid-19 a enclenché une panique immense impliquant l’ordre social, les structures économiques et politiques, pour ne citer que ces aspects. S’agissant du volet politique, il est évident que les incidences de cette pandémie traversent aisément les frontières. En ce sens, une question se pose immanquablement : quel est l’impact de la crise sanitaire su ...

L’existence du droit à la santé dans l’ordre juridique international ne fait pas de doute, vu sa reconnaissance pragmatique dans les systèmes internationaux et régionaux de protection des droits de l’homme. Cependant, l’affirmation de ce droit n’implique pas stricto sensu son effectivité, compte tenu de l’ambiguïté juridique qui caractérise sa nature juridique conséquente à sa double connotation à la fois civile et sociale. Le renouveau de la réflexion sur les problématiques inhéren ...

South Korea’s history of rapid industrialization and its long-standing alliance with the United States have shaped national state logic to a large extent around a desire to strictly comply with the common norms for aid in the international community, and to affirm itself as a large conventional donor, often at odds with attempts to introduce a more innovative image of South Korea by designing unique Official Development Assistance (ODA) models to be implemented in developing countri ...

The United States has suffered more COVID-19 casualties than any other country and continues to report large numbers of new cases and deaths, and – as evident recently in stock markets – investors remain extremely sensitive to the epidemic’s shifting trends. As every state reopens, including most recently the New York epicenter, the fates of the American economy and of the global economy depend on whether the United States has put the worst of the epidemic behind it, or whether it w ...

When the cruise ship the MS Braemar in March had coronavirus cases confirmed on board, it struggled to find somewhere to dock. The Americans turned it away, as did the Bahamas. But another nation, just 200 miles off the U.S. coast, accepted the desperate Braemar. Cuba allowed it to berth in Puerto Mariel, 40 kilometers west of the capital, Havana. Within a day, in cooperation with the British government, Cuban medical teams accompanied more than 680 passengers to Havana airport and ...

Sur le ‘’rideau baissé’’ du globe terrestre, une pancarte avec une phrase : ‘’fermé pour raison de travaux’’. La pancarte n’indique aucune date de réouverture. A l’intérieur, personne ne sait encore à quoi ressemblera le monde à la réouverture. Le temps presse. Aucune vision n’est encore dégagée et personne ne peut s’engager sur une date de reprise des activités ni sur la maquette du monde à venir. Certains proposent de rouvrir en 2021, mais les six mois qui restent sont à peine su ...

Face à l’ampleur des retombées économiques et sociales des crises sanitaires, comme la Covid19, l’aide publique au développement peut jouer un rôle essentiel dans l’atténuation de l’impact des épidémies sur les économies les plus fragiles et vulnérables. L'aide publique au développement (APD) vise non seulement à combler le manque de capital nécessaire à amorcer une dynamique forte de développement, mais aussi à amorcer la capacité des Etats à répondre aux risques sanitaires et sécu ...

Plus de cinq mois se sont écoulés depuis l’apparition du premier cas du Virus Covid-19 dont le bilan mondial provisoire est estimé, aujourd’hui, à plus de six millions de personnes affectées et 400.000 victimes. Durant toute cette période, le Conseil de Sécurité des Nations unies n’a pas été en mesure d’adopter une position sous quelle forme que ce soit concernant la nouvelle pandémie. La raison majeure de cette défaillance est la lutte de puissance entre les Etats-Unis et la Chine, ...

Notre senior Fellow, Henri Louis Védie publié dans la revue « Politique internationale », N°167, Automne 2020, un article intitulé « Du bon usage des fonds souverains ...

Agence spécialisée du système des Nations unies, l’Organisation mondiale de la Santé (OMS) se trouve sous les projecteurs d’une actualité internationale, encore plus que par le passé, en raison de la grave pandémie en cours (Covid-19) qui semble avoir battu un record de mondialisation de cas d’infection en une relative courte période de temps. A tort ou à raison, une controverse, impliquant les principales grandes puissances, se développe autour du profil technique de la pandémie do ...

In discussing the potential role of peacekeeping missions in the context of the threat of the Coronavirus pandemic, two main issues arise. The first is of a legal nature, and the second is linked to the management of expenditures and budgets. Legally, the duties of peacekeeping missions are defined by the United Nations Security Council resolutions that mandate the creation of a mission. Financially, UN member states have become less willing to finance peacekeeping operations (PKO ...

The merciless COVID-19 disease threatens economic misery, with people around the world touched by anxiety and unemployment. In this context, never in recent history has so much hope centered on scientists and the studious brilliance of academic institutions. Media headlines tell the story, with newspapers around the world speaking of beacons of hope in the form of potential cures, vaccines, immune therapies, and clinical trials. Without the solutions of science, nations face long-te ...

The worldwide spread of the Covid-19 pandemic has had a severe human impact, mainly in the United States and Europe. For the time being, Africa seems to be less affected, based on the relatively small number of infected people and deaths. Several explanations have been put forward to support this finding, ranging from hot climates to acquired immunity from previous health challenges to traditional miracle cures. In their management of the new epidemic, African countries must logical ...

Analysts are trying to understand why the COVID-19 pandemic is progressing in Africa at a much slower rate than expected. According to one report, the continent had by the beginning of May seen 37,000 infection cases and 1600 fatalities, compared to the rest of the world, which has 3.2 million cases and 228,000 deaths1. Various explanations have been proffered to explain this disparity: Africa’s warm climate, the youthfulness of the continent’s population (60% of the population is u ...

Albert Camus, prix Nobel de littérature (1957), disait dans son discours à l’occasion de la réception qui lui était dédiée :    "Chaque génération, sans doute, se croit vouée à refaire le monde. La mienne sait pourtant qu’elle ne le refera pas. Mais sa tâche est peut-être plus grande. Elle consiste à empêcher que le monde se défasse"   La tâche des jeunes générations, présentes ou futures, consiste à faire tout ce qui est possible pour éviter le chaos ; il est pour demain !!  Sans ...

2020 restera dans l’histoire l’année  du Coronavirus, bien sûr, mais, surtout, celle de l’ébranlement de nos certitudes. Le choc économique provoqué par la pandémie a révélé l’extrême vulnérabilité de la mondialisation, présentée jusque-là comme triomphante. Si nous sommes encore loin de la sortie de crise, nous savons déjà que la mondialisation n’en sortira pas indemne : elle ne sortira pas indemne de la révision radicale du fonctionnement de l’économie, des remises en cause des p ...

Le processus de mondialisation, si solide soit-il, se trouve à l’épreuve d’une crise sanitaire mondiale inattendue et brutale. Cette réalité adresse au monde une question qui interpelle autant les décideurs, les managers que les chercheurs : Que pourraient être les effets du Covid-19 sur l’économie politique internationale ? Rupture, continuité ou inflexion ? Une des perspectives qu’il convient de surveiller est celle relative à l’inflexion du processus de la mondialisation. C'est- ...

Jamais dans l’Histoire de l’humanité la configuration d’un ennemi commun à toutes les nations ne s’était produite. La crise pandémique du Coronavirus ne guète pas une race, une religion ou une couleur en particulier. Celui qui est menacé est bien l’espèce humaine dans sa totalité. C’est une guerre d’un contre tous. Or, plutôt que d’apporter une réponse commune, les Etats fonctionnent en isolation clinique et le système institutionnel, aussi bien multilatéral que régional, peine à co ...

Parallèlement à l’apparition du Covid-19 au début de l’année en cours, les différents foyers de tensions et de guerres ont vu se développer, entre les belligérants, des escalades dangereuses qui menacent la paix et la sécurité dans le monde. Du Yémen au Sahel, en passant par la Syrie et la Libye, le monde voyait les chances de retrouver la sérénité et la quiétude s’évaporer avec les tirs de mortiers, les raids aériens, les attaques de drones et le renforcement des lignes de fronts e ...

L’épreuve du Covid-19 bouleverse par son ampleur, alarme par ses répercussions et ses effets de ricochets, dont les contours dévastateurs commencent à se dessiner mais restent encore considérablement incertains. Favorisée par la mondialisation des transports et l’intégration croissante des économies, la propagation fulgurante du virus à plus de 200 pays et territoires à travers le monde dévoile notre vulnérabilité collective et constitue un test sans égal de la résilience des systèm ...

Dans cette période de catastrophe planétaire, le risque d'un nombre élevé de victimes en raison de la faiblesse des systèmes de santé de nombreux Etats africains, anglophones ou francophones, est plus qu’évident pour l’observateur averti. Les circonstances actuelles interdisent des commentaires évidemment superflus sur les infrastructures médicales, globalement défaillantes. Ces insuffisances sont connues et vécues au quotidien par les populations des diverses régions du continent, ...

Our Senior Fellow, Len Ishmael has contributed to the Quarterly Journal by Beyond the Horizon ISSG (Volume 3 Issue 1), under the theme « Influencing and Promoting Global Peace and Security Horizon Insights », with a Policy Paper where she addresses China’s use of crises to « deepen and extend power and influence in Europe and the world ». Standing in solidarity with countries in Europe and elsewhere in the fight against COVID-19, China scores a diplomatic coup and extends its claim ...

While the world has been facing one of the most serious health crises of the century in recent months, Africa seems to have been spared so far. The African countries have announced only very few cases, about ten for some and none for others. However, as time goes by, Africa is facing an increasing number of cases, first exported from Europe and America and then resulting in local contamination. This is not the only health crisis Africa has faced in recent years. The Ebola health cri ...

*/ Depuis le 12 mars, les frontières et les communications aériennes, maritimes et terrestres entre l’Espagne et le Maroc sont fermées à cause de la crise du COVID-19. Mais au-delà de la fermeture transitoire des frontières, la crise sanitaire, doublée de la crise économique qui se laisse déjà ressentir en Espagne, aura un fort impact sur un million de ressortissants marocains résidant en Espagne. Au 1er janvier 2019 (derniers chiffres officiels disponibles), leur nombre était de 8 ...

Illicit financial flows (IFFs) have become a serious threat to the attainment of global development goals. On February 28th, 2020, the President of the United Nations General Assembly, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, and the President of ECOSOC, Mona Juul, have announced a high-level panel on international financial accountability, transparency, and integrity (FACTI) as a means to address this challenge, which inhibits financing for the Sustainable Development Goals. This paper provides an ...

This young German man with Congolese origins, educated in Germany, the United States and the Netherlands, has roots on three continents. He’s not only the epitomy of an Atlantic young leader – the way the Policy Center for the New South defines them – but now also a member of the 2019 ADEL cohort Alumni. In January 2020 he transitioned as Head of Public Policy for Sub-Saharan Africa at Twitter. At this strategic position, he works for one of the most influential social media networ ...

Les investissements japonais en Afrique sont en plein essor. Ils sont passés de 758 millions de dollars, en 2000, à 7,8 milliards en 2017, fruit de la présence sur le continent de près de 796 entreprises nippones. Troisième puissance économique et deuxième puissance industrielle mondiale, après la Chine et les Etats-Unis, le Japon est le cinquième donateur mondial en matière d’aide bilatérale à l’Afrique. Malgré sa discrétion et la compétition des autres puissances étrangères présen ...

Decades of rapid economic growth have dramatically expanded China’s energy needs. The magnitudes are impressive. China is now the world’s largest consumer of energy, the largest producer and consumer of coal, and the largest emitter of carbon dioxide. It is increasingly looking toward securing its future energy needs with sustainable alternatives. China has also become the world’s largest producer, exporter and installer of solar panels, wind turbines, batteries, electric vehicles, ...

The third edition of the African Peace and Security Annual Conference (APSACO) was held on June 18-19th 2019 under the theme “Africa's Place and Influence in a Changing World”. The two-day event, organized by Policy Center for the New South (PCNS), was launched with the publication of the Annual Report on Africa’s Geopolitics, Followed by five panels : - Panel 1: Africa and the world or How to balance Mutual perceptions; - Panel 2: Africa and the production of strategic and normati ...

A few months ago, Indian Prime Minister Modi announced that his country had improved its space capabilities by shooting down from Earth a low orbit satellite that was 300 km away in space. Most commentators assume that the destroyed target was an Indian satellite, presumably outdated or no longer fully functioning. Modi further reassured the international community by stating that the technology will only be used for security, peace, and development purposes, and that the act did no ...

With India looking more towards Africa as a home for sustainable partners, it is also looking at diversifying the areas of collaboration with several African countries, especially with Morocco. As early as 1967, India’s then Vice-President Zakir Hussain visited Morocco and set the tone for engagement between both countries. The latter has established diplomatic relations based on mutual understanding, tolerance and respect. Since then, the two countries have enjoyed fruitful relatio ...

In Africa’s impending demographic dividend and the looming threat posed by Europe’s aging, lie the seeds of an agenda with the possibilities to generate win-wins for both continents. Might Europe’s future labor market requirements hold the key for a smart partnership around investments in Africa’s greatest asset – that of its people? ...

Au moment où le multilatéralisme se trouve mis à mal dans sa triple dimension de maintien de la paix et de la sécurité internationales, du développement du commerce international et de la lutte contre le changement climatique, de plus en plus de voix s’élèvent appelant à une réforme en profondeur des instances chargées de promouvoir ces objectifs fondamentaux de l’agenda international. Ce vent de réformes ne semble épargner ni l’Organisation mondiale du Commerce (OMC), ni la Banque ...

Leonardo Parraga is an alumnus of the Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders Program 2016.  The rise of globalization has given space to cooperation across borders in unprecedented ways. The interconnectedness between different actors allows for the creation of synergies and catalyzing progress in different areas, a feature that was previously unthinkable. When it comes to cooperation amongst young people, the increasing wave of meeting spaces facilitating the encounters between youth ...

China’s economic records over the past four decades generated the intellectual curiosity of many foreign observers and researchers . The development pathway of Beijing is interesting to study as it proves that a country can take its destiny in its own hand. This paper tries to draw possible lessons from the Chinese development path to see if some of them could be adaptable to feed the development of the African countries. Introduction Forty years ago, China opened up its economy t ...

L'auteur est une alumni du programme des Atlantic Dialogues Emerging Leaders. Seuls 14 kilomètres séparent les continents africain et européen. C'est un fait: nous sommes voisins ! Outre cette proximité géographique, l’Europe et l’Afrique sont liées par une histoire commune, des relations économiques, des échanges diplomatiques et de nombreux défis communs. Une véritable communauté de destin qui appelle à un partenariat fort, alors que l’Accord de Cotonou, qui régit les relations p ...

Les relations du Japon avec le Maghreb sont alimentées par des éléments de projection très diversifiés, inégaux, vers des pays et des sociétés qui intéressent le Japon par eux-mêmes, mais dont l’importance est renforcée par leurs articulations avec les maillages, africain et moyen oriental. La décennie actuelle ne constitue pas le moment le plus fort de ces relations. La coopération entre le Japon et les pays du Maghreb reste significative, cependant. Les possibilités de développeme ...

Twenty years after negotiations began between Mercosur and the European Union (EU), a trade agreement between ministers was reached last Friday in Brussels. Its first phase, from 1999 to 2014, had among the motivations on the European side not to be left behind while the US then pursued a Free Trade Agreement for Latin America (FTAA). Symptomatically, such enthusiasm cooled after FTAA negotiations came to a halt and the United States embarked on bilateral agreements with some countr ...

Caribbean and African ties run deep. They are based on a shared history, culture, and sense of a common identity forged by the slave trade which forcibly relocated more than 10 million Africans to the New World, in the process, creating large centres of African Diaspora in the Caribbean and elsewhere. The common historical experiences of slavery and colonialism inspired formation of the Pan-African Movement in the first half of the 1900’s led by the African Diaspora outside of Afric ...

The cooperation between Brazil and Morocco dates back to the 19th century, when Moroccan migrants came to Brazil attracted by the then booming exploration of rubber in the Amazon rainforest. In 1861, the Brazilian government opened its first consulate in Tangier.  But it was only since 1961, with the Moroccan independence, that the bilateral relations began to diversify. At the political sphere, there has been a fluid dialogue, driven by convergent views on several issues related t ...

The trade tensions between the United States and China will cause only minor immediate damage to their giant economies. However, tariffs have important and diverse effects on individual sectors and cause heightened uncertainty. The main adverse effects on Sub-Saharan Africa will therefore be through global investor confidence, economic growth and commodity prices, and these effects could be severe if the dispute escalates further and endangers the rules-based trading system. The tra ...

À travers cette publication conjointe, le Centre HEC de Géopolitique et le Policy Center for the New South ont souhaité présenter seize papiers discutés et enrichis au cours de la sixième édition des Dialogues Stratégiques qui s’est tenue le 3 octobre 2018. Cette rencontre avait choisi d’analyser l’espace politique et les enjeux géostratégiques de notre monde contemporain en se focalisant sur deux sujets d’actualité internationale : les crises et sorties de crises en Amérique latine ...

Le « Pacte mondial pour des migrations sûres, ordonnées et régulières » a été adopté à Marrakech les 10 et 11 décembre 2018, à l’issue de 18 mois de consultations et de négociations. Il est présenté comme le premier accord des Nations unies sur une approche globale des migrations internationales dans toutes ses dimensions. S’il vise à devenir la pierre angulaire d’une gouvernance mondiale des migrations, souhaitée par la communauté internationale, il se heurte pourtant à des priorit ...

“What are the sources of tension in the Spain-Morocco relationship?” "¿Cuáles son los focos de tensión en la relación España-Marruecos?” ("What are the sources of tension in the Spain-Morocco relationship?”) is a Spanish-written article featured in the independent international-news analysis group Estudios de Política Exterior, providing an examination of Spanish-Moroccan relations written by four authors, namely OCP Policy Center's Senior Fellow, Rachid El Houdaigui. ...

Nowadays, links between development and security are widely recognized by many, just as they were during the development of the Marshall Plan. As mentioned in the United Nations "A More Secure World" report, threats to one are intrinsically a threat to all. Thus, 17 UN-agreed goals were agreed upon to help end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure prosperity for all by 2030, including goal 16 for "peaceful and inclusive societies". Last month, the UN’s inaugural Africa Dialogue S ...

The workshop “Coping with Climate Change” gathered experts, policy-makers and researchers to discuss recent econometric work on decoupling greenhouse gas emissions and economic growth. It explored different policies and instruments that countries and financial institutions are adopting to cope with the effects of climate change (adaptation) and to contribute to the global effort to combat climate change (mitigation).    Session 1: Decoupling of Emissions and Economic Activity The ...

Le séminaire de haut niveau, organisé par OCP Policy Center ce 2 novembre 2018 à Rabat, est axé sur « La migration : réconcilier les visions du Nord et du Sud ».  Il sera question dans cette rencontre, organisée en partenariat avec le Ministère délégué auprès du ministre des Affaires étrangères et de la Coopération internationale, Chargé des Marocains résidant à l’étranger, des affaires de la migration et l’IeMED, de la coopération internationale pour « lever les obstacles à la mob ...

There has been a flurry of activity in the Horn of Africa recently, where decades-old political disputes have suddenly been put to rest. The resulting changes have shattered the status quo in the region, putting the Horn on a new path where state-to-state relations are no longer marked by regional competition and frozen borders. While this has undoubtedly been a positive development for the region, one big piece of the puzzle has been the role of external actors in the process, and ...

This blog post summarizes the key findings of the new book Energy in Africa: Challenges and Opportunities, co-authored by Manfred Hafner, Simone Tagliapietra and Lucia de Strasser of the Italian think-tank, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei. The book, published by Springer, is freely available online. The book presents a picture of the current energy challenges on the African continent- the Sub-Saharan region in particular- and proposes pathways to an accelerated energy transition. Begi ...

La conférence « A Brave New World, Adapting to a changing security landscape », organisée par Friends of Europe, le 20 septembre 2018 à Bruxelles, a consisté en des tables rondes auxquelles ont participé Bouchra Rahmouni Benhida, Senior Research Fellow d'OCP Policy Center et Amal El Ouassif, Research Assistant, notamment sur les plus grands défis de la politique extérieure européenne. « C’était très gratifiant de voir distribuées, aujourd’hui, les conclusions sur la migration d’un b ...

This blog is based on remarks delivered at the Think-Tank Summit in Buenos Aires on 18 September 2018 held under the G-20’s Argentine Presidency.  Africa has an enormous infrastructure gap that impedes its development. The Compact with Africa (CwA) is an international policy initiative sponsored under the German presidency of the G-20 in 2017 designed to bridge that gap. Intended to draw in the private sector in developing Africa’s infrastructure through a combination of Private-Pu ...

The agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is a framework to create a free trade area across the region, bringing together the 55 members of the African Union into a continental market with a cumulative Gross Domestic Product (GDP) exceeding US$2.2 trillion and a total population of over one billion people. When concluded and successfully implemented, it will become the largest free trade area in the world in terms of membership, opening up significa ...

The African Union goes to Mauritania Under the theme “Winning the Fight Against Corruption”, the 31st Summit of the African Union was held in early July in the desert capital Nouakchott. In a bitter prelude in late June, the AU’s commitment to this central theme was dealt a blow with the sudden – and public – resignation of Ghana’s Daniel Batidam from the AU Advisory Board on Corruption. Off to a rocky start, the summit had an even rougher road ahead of it.  A month before the lau ...

Africa, preeminent recipient of Chinese aid, has benefited greatly from Chinese low-rate loans, infrastructure projects and trade relations. Consequently, these massive investments cause analysts to question whether this Chinese expansionism constitutes a new form of colonialism. The author examines the different economic intervention tools of Beijing, the Chinese capital’s economic engagement in the continent, and the long-term strategy of China in Africa. He also addresses approv ...

Dans cette minutieuse analyse des relations entre les pays du Maghreb et l’Inde, pays/continent, désormais classé au rang de 7ème puissance économique mondiale, appel est fait à plusieurs disciplines. De la politique, aux relations internationales, à l’économie et au commerce, en passant par l’histoire. Le résultat est ce tableau de bord/panorama qui renseigne à la fois sur les atouts dont dispose chacun des partenaires mais, aussi, sur les désaccords qui se font jour entre ces dern ...