Sophia Price – författare

This edited volume provides a timely and critical analysis of Africa‑EU Relations in the new Samoa Agreement phase of the long‑standing ‘Eurafrican’ relationship.

Drawing on a range of critical perspectives and contributions it moves beyond Eurocentric visions of policy co‑operation on development to highlight three core themes that frame the analysis within this volume: the new scramble for Africa, Europe’s ontological security and the securitisation of development and African agency. In doing so, it assesses EU actors’ engagement with African institutions in relation to key areas of policy collaboration, including trade, development, health, migration and security. In this context, it examines whether the ‘partnership’ offers African states and regional institutions a genuine pathway to ‘development’ or whether historical power asymmetries remain entrenched – and perhaps even exacerbated – through the new Africa‑EU Agreement.

This book will be of key interest to scholars, students and practitioners involved in Development Studies, EU studies, Africa‑EU Relations, African politics and International Relations and more broadly to International Political Economy and Comparative Regionalism.

This edited volume provides a timely and critical analysis of Africa‑EU Relations in the new Samoa Agreement phase of the long‑standing ‘Eurafrican’ relationship.

Drawing on a range of critical perspectives and contributions it moves beyond Eurocentric visions of policy co‑operation on development to highlight three core themes that frame the analysis within this volume: the new scramble for Africa, Europe’s ontological security and the securitisation of development and African agency. In doing so, it assesses EU actors’ engagement with African institutions in relation to key areas of policy collaboration, including trade, development, health, migration and security. In this context, it examines whether the ‘partnership’ offers African states and regional institutions a genuine pathway to ‘development’ or whether historical power asymmetries remain entrenched – and perhaps even exacerbated – through the new Africa‑EU Agreement.

This book will be of key interest to scholars, students and practitioners involved in Development Studies, EU studies, Africa‑EU Relations, African politics and International Relations and more broadly to International Political Economy and Comparative Regionalism.

The European Union has been one of the most vocal advocates of ‘sustainable development’, particularly in its dealings with developing countries. Even prior to the formulation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the EU has insisted upon the need for sustainable approaches to poverty reduction and economic growth in the Global South. When examining EU relations with African countries as part of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group, however, it becomes clear that the translation of Europe’s sustainability discourse into practice is highly problematic. Notably, there are concerns that the EU’s free market approach to development – embodied in its EPA trade deals – is incompatible with genuine, pro-poor forms of sustainable growth. Moreover, the EU is often seen as a hegemonic actor whose trade and aid interventions in Africa often do more to perpetuate poverty than to ameliorate it. This book casts a critical light on Africa-EU relations with regards to the EU’s sustainability pledges. It does this through looking at an array of issues – not least trade, aid, the environment, and democratic institutions. In this vein, the book poses a challenge to EU trade and development discourse in the era of the UN SDGs.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue in Third World Thematics: A TWQ Journal.