To say that Russia "controls" the processes in most of the countries of the African continent would be more like a fantasy. My colleagues and I analyzed the instruments of influence of the Russian Federation and came to the conclusion that there is a conditional "Russian zone", which includes only six countries. The rest are the sphere of future interests and the sphere of competition with other powers. Which include both regional leaders (Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa) and China. The latter, by the way, really significantly influences the policy of about half of the countries of Africa.

The question arises: "What then are the causes of the problems of Western countries in the African direction?" The answer lies in the specifics of the policy of building relations with African countries. EU and US investments were mainly concentrated around the extractive business and, for the most part, did not concern the areas of industrial development, technology transfer, or human capital. Humanitarian issues were resolved through international organizations, which masked the role of Western states.

And, finally, support for civil society was somehow connected with the issues of building a democratic (European-style) model of political system. All this allowed local political elites to declare the "neocolonial" nature of "Western politics". Especially in recent years, when a number of African states made a breakthrough in economic development and were in dire need of technological cooperation and investment.

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