Resistance and Resilience: Resource Extraction, Arms Trade, and Militarism in Africa and the Global South
The consolidation of democratic rule on the African continent has faced significant challenges because of militarization driven or shaped by both internal and external actors. The seeds of this militarism were the violent struggles during colonization and the “Cold War” global interests that resulted in hot wars on the continent. For example, independent African countries such as Angola fought protracted internal wars shaped and fueled by Cold War geopolitics. On the eve of Africa’s political independence, European powers negotiated agreements that allowed them to maintain iron-grip control over the security apparatuses of African nations ensuring that African soldiers were trained according to Europe’s military doctrines. For instance, The Anglo Nigerian Defense Pact of 1960 and the Franco-Ivorian Defense Agreement of 1961 had provisions for both military training and the presence of British military bases in Nigeria and French military bases in Côte d’Ivoire.
In the post-9/11 period, the United States sought to expand its military footprint on the continent under the guise of fighting terrorism and narco-trafficking. According to United States Africa Command (AFRICOM) spokesperson John Manley in 2020, the U.S. has an archipelago of 15 “enduring locations” and 12 less-permanent “contingency locations” in Africa. In addition to officially recognized bases such as Camp Lemonnier situated next to Djibouti–Ambouli International Airport, the US also has secret military outposts across the continent, often in disregard of the sovereignty of African nations.
Not to be outranked on the continent is China’s growing military influence. In 2017, China established its first military base in Africa in Djibouti, near Camp Lemonnier, to support its regional naval operations. China as well as Russia are significant suppliers of military arms to the continent. Once again, the heightened interests of the different Superpowers on the continent are turning Africa into a proxy battleground, similar to the former Cold War dynamics.
The militarization of the continent has severe consequences. It has destabilized and continues to destabilize many nations creating economic hardships thereby spurring both internal migrations and the migration of African people to Europe, the United States, Israel, Asia, and other locations. These foreign interventions along with continuing conflicts on the continent enable the untaxed extraction of African resources, the undermining of local leadership, and the erosion of both African democratic institutions and democratic aspirations.
NYASA: Association for the Study of Africa and its Diaspora invites scholars, researchers, and practitioners to submit abstracts for papers and panels for its upcoming conference on the theme of Resistance and Resilience: Resource Extraction, Arms Trade, and Militarism in Africa and the Global South. Working under a broad definition of “militarism” that includes not only the above but also militaristic aspects in news reports, propaganda, literature, film, immigration, gender roles, class distinctions, health, technology, and all other areas of life and culture, this conference aims critically to examine the effects of militarism’s historical, political, economic, and social dimensions in Africa and the Global South on democracy, sovereignty, human security, and other areas important to Africa today and tomorrow.
