Deprovincializing Africa in the EU's milieu

Toni Haastrup

Chapter 34 in Handbook of European Union Governance, 2025, pp 488-500 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter critically examines the complex historical and contemporary relationship between Africa, as a region, and the European Union, highlighting the persistent power asymmetries rooted in coloniality. Despite rhetorical commitments to partnership that have seen Africa–EU relations evolve from a donor–recipient model, the relationship continues to be one of inequality. While current relations have evolved from development assistance to include issues of trade, security, energy, and political cooperation, Africa still exists in a very specific imaginary of the EU that subordinates the continent's countries and institutions. Recent global events, like the war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic, have made evident that the EU's approach often reinforces colonial hierarchies, undermining African agency. This chapter argues for deprovincializing Africa within the EU external relations praxis. In so doing, it demonstrates that the binary that situates Africa in the EU's milieu and thus outside of its possession goals is not useful.

Keywords: African Union; EU–Africa relations; Samoa Agreement; Development cooperation; Migration; Security (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781803925172
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