74659 - Europe and Africa: Cooperation and Security

Academic Year 2020/2021

  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Bologna
  • Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LM) in International Relations (cod. 9084)

    Also valid for Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Local and Global Development (cod. 9200)

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students will know the main policies and institutions of the EU-partnership in the fields of security and development cooperation, within the framework of the international debate on these topics. In particular, students will be able to: analyze the contemporary literature concerning the political and military relations between the EU and Africa; discuss and contextualize the main global and regional processes of transformation defining the relations between the EU and Africa, - understand the historical evolution of the UE-Africa security and development cooperation ; organize and retrieve bibliographic and documentary sources using libraries and web materials.

Course contents

The first part of the course will analyze the historical framework of African-European relations since the late 19th century. Emphasis will be put on patterns of colonial domination and the decolonization process. Relations between African and European countries during the Cold War will be also examined, and a specific attention will be devoted to the evolution of Africa-France relations and the role of the Western countries in decolonization of Southern Africa and the fight against apartheid South Africa. The second part of the course will examine the aims, instruments and outcomes of the development cooperation between the African governments and the European Union since the early 1960s. The third part of the course will analyze relations between Africa and Europe in the post-Cold War era. In particular, European policies aimed at the promotion of democracy and human rights, the prevention and resolution of violent conflicts and the promotion of economic development and poverty reduction in Africa will be scrutinized. The fourth part of the course will be devoted to the study of the "new scramble" for African natural resources and its multiple political and economic effects.

The course is organized in lectures and seminars, as detailed in the following program. Lectures (16 hours in remote on MS TEAMS) aim to introduce students to the core tenets of the discipline. Seminars (12 hours) aim to provide occasions for in-depth discussions of class materials and exercises. For the seminar section of the course, students will be divided in two groups according to their preferences and according to rules concerning the current pandemic emergency: one group will do the seminar in classroom (12 hours) and another group will do the seminar remotely on MS TEAMS (12 hours), for a total of 28 hours for each student. Students are required to carefully read the assigned material before the session and - in the case of seminars - active participation through presentations of existing scholarship and case studies will also be expected. Regardless of the health-related conditions and the specific organization of the course, students will be able to follow the lessons of the entire course remotely on MS TEAMS.

Readings/Bibliography

PART A

Lecture 1) Introductory remarks

S. J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Genealogies of Colonialit􏷏 and Implications for Africa's Development, in Africa Development / Afrique etD􏷐eveloppement, Vol. 40, No. 3, 2015

F. Cooper, Conflict and Connection: Rethinking Colonial African History, in American Historical Review, vol. 99, no. 5, 1994 ONLY PAGE 1531.

Lecture 2) Colonization/decolonization

M. Crowder, Indirect Rule: French and British Style, in Journal of the International African Institute, vol. 34, no. 3, 1964

Lecture 3) Decolonization of the Congo

E. Schmidt, Foreign Intervention in Africa. From the Cold War to the War on Terror, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2013, chapter 3

Lecture 4) Decolonization of Southern Africa I

E. Schmidt, Foreign Intervention in Africa. From the Cold War to the War on Terror, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2013, chapter 4

Lecture 5) Decolonization of Southern Africa II

E. Schmidt, Foreign Intervention in Africa. From the Cold War to the War on Terror, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2013, chapter 5

Lecture 6) France and Africa

E. Schmidt, Foreign Intervention in Africa. From the Cold War to the War on Terror, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2013, chapter 7

P. Guillaumont, et Al., Franc Zone in retrospect and prospect, in Revue d’economie du developpement, vol. 25, no.2, 2017

Lecture 7) The Genocide in Rwanda

G. PRUNIER, Opération Turquoise: A Humanitarian Escape from a Political Dead End, in H. ADELMAN, A. SUHRKE (eds), The Path of a Genocide. The Rwanda Crisis from Uganda to Zaire, Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, 2000.

Lecture 8) The Lome Convention

I. Montana, The Lomé Convention from Inception to the Dynamics of the Post-Cold War, 1957-1990s, in African and Asian Studies, vol. 2, no. 1, 2003

PART B

Lecture 9) The Lome Convention and Washington Consensus

T. Parfitt, The Decline of Eurafrica? Lomé’s Mid-Term Review, in Review of African Political Economy, vol. 23, no. 67, 1996

Lecture 10) Cotonou Parternship Agreement and democracy in Africa

G. R. Olsen, Europe and the Promotion of Democracy in post-Cold War Africa: How seriuos is Europe and for what Reason?, in African Affairs, vol. 97, no. 388, 1998.

Lecture 11) Cotonou Parternship Agreement and trade cooperation

C. Stevens, The EU, Africa and Economic Partnership Agreements: Unintended Consequences of Policy Leverage, in Journal of Modern African Studies, vol. 44, no. 3, 2006

M. Langan, S., Price, Extraversion and the West African EPA Development Programme: Realising the Development Dimension of ACP–EU Trade?, in Journal of Modern African Studies, vol. 53, no. 3, 2015

Lecture 12) The EU and security in Africa

N. Duggan, O. Hodzi, The challenges of China-European Union security cooperation in Africa, in Asia Europe Journal ,2020

Lecture 13) The EU and the Mediterranean countries

G. Joffé, Regionalism, the European Union and the Arab Awakening, in M. Telò (ed), European Union and New Regionalism, 3rd edition, London, Routledge, 2014

Lecture 14) The EU and migration from Africa

S. Lavenex, R. Kunz, The Migration-Development Nexus in EU External Relations, in Journal of European Integration, vol. 30, no. 3, 2007

T. Rati, R. Shilhav, The EU Trust Fund for Africa. Trapped between Aid Policy and Migration Politics, Oxford, Oxfam, gennaio 2020 (https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/bp-eu-trust-fund-africa-migration-politics-300120-en.pdf)

 

Reading for students not attending classes

A. Adebajo, K. Whiteman (eds), The EU and Africa. From Euroafrique to Afro-Europa, London, Hurst & C., 2012.

A. Adebajo, The Curse of Berlin. Africa after the Cold War, London, Hurst & C., 2010.

E. Schmidt, Foreign Intervention in Africa.From the Cold War to the War on Terror, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2013.

T. Chafer, The end of the Empire in French West Africa: France's successful decolonization?, Oxford, Berg, 2002.

H. Solomon, Terrorism and Counter-terrorism in Africa, Basingstoke, Palgrave. 2015.

Teaching methods

Lectures.

Assessment methods

Final written exam.

Teaching tools

Power-point presentations.

Office hours

See the website of Arrigo Pallotti

SDGs

No poverty Reduced inequalities Peace, justice and strong institutions

This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.