Abstract:The debate on NPE (Normative Power Europe) has flourished for more than a decade. NPE has shaped Africa-EU relations considerably, especially since the founding of the AU (African Union). Yet while the EU aspires to be a post-imperial, normative power, this postcolonial critique suggests NPE is a neo-Kantian, Eurocentric discourse that reinvigorates an outdated European moral paternalism. The article explores the role of NPE in Africa-EU relations through a Foucauldian conceptualization of knowledge in EU fore… Show more
“…As Chipaike and Knowledge (2018, p. 4) point out, '[t]he major undoing of IR scholarship has been its unwillingness to highlight, discuss and interrogate African agency chiefly because it has been assumed that African actors are passive and supplicant participators in relations with external interlocutors'. Thus, acknowledging African agency in international relations, and particularly in Europe-Africa inter-regionalism, is a crucial step in transcending the eurocentrism embedded in the European normative power narrative (Staegar, 2016), as well as to understand African's capability to perceive and dialogue with external actors according to their own interests and values. Considering the emerging attention to African agency in global politics, this article contributes to this literature by bringing to the fore the coexisting perceptions of African parliamentary actors of the EU in the context of EU-AU inter-regionalism and interparliamentary cooperation, questioning what their impacts are on Europe-Africa relations overall.…”
Section: The Emergence Of African Agency In the Context Of Inter-rmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Therefore, this article contributes to filling this research gap, providing empirical and in-depth information on the narratives of African political and parliamentary actors when it comes to their relationship with the European institutions, in particular the EP. Moreover, this article aims to build bridges between the literature on EU normative power and the diffusion of norms (Börzel and Risse, 2009;Lenz, 2013;Manners, 2002;Scheipers and Sicurelli, 2008) with more critical studies on the EU's post-colonial engagement with African countries and regional organizations (Bachmann and Sidaway, 2010;Hansen and Jonsson, 2012;Haastrup, 2013;Hurt, 2003;Rutazibwa, 2010;Staegar, 2016). By providing a middle-ground approach to understanding contemporary European-African relations, this article points out how the diffusion of EU norms has been received, localized and contested by African parliamentary agents.…”
This article assesses EU–Africa inter‐regionalism and the reception of EU norms by African actors, by investigating the relations between the European Parliament (EP) and the Pan‐African Parliament (PAP). By exploring this interparliamentary dialogue, the article draws attention to the contradictions of African perceptions on European integration, which is simultaneously seen as an inspiration and a neo‐imperialist project. The EP was considered a role model to the PAP and was also one of its main supporters. However, European involvement in African issues has not always been regarded as positive. Post‐colonial and pan‐African discourses found in African statements have reinforced their resistance to European engagement in African politics. After discussing these ambivalent narratives on the EU, this article addresses the way that these perceptions impact on AU–EU inter‐regional relations, arguing that these mixed views towards the Europeans have undermined the diffusion of EU norms and the levels of trust in this relationship, preventing the joint Africa–Europe strategy from attaining its ambitions.
“…As Chipaike and Knowledge (2018, p. 4) point out, '[t]he major undoing of IR scholarship has been its unwillingness to highlight, discuss and interrogate African agency chiefly because it has been assumed that African actors are passive and supplicant participators in relations with external interlocutors'. Thus, acknowledging African agency in international relations, and particularly in Europe-Africa inter-regionalism, is a crucial step in transcending the eurocentrism embedded in the European normative power narrative (Staegar, 2016), as well as to understand African's capability to perceive and dialogue with external actors according to their own interests and values. Considering the emerging attention to African agency in global politics, this article contributes to this literature by bringing to the fore the coexisting perceptions of African parliamentary actors of the EU in the context of EU-AU inter-regionalism and interparliamentary cooperation, questioning what their impacts are on Europe-Africa relations overall.…”
Section: The Emergence Of African Agency In the Context Of Inter-rmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Therefore, this article contributes to filling this research gap, providing empirical and in-depth information on the narratives of African political and parliamentary actors when it comes to their relationship with the European institutions, in particular the EP. Moreover, this article aims to build bridges between the literature on EU normative power and the diffusion of norms (Börzel and Risse, 2009;Lenz, 2013;Manners, 2002;Scheipers and Sicurelli, 2008) with more critical studies on the EU's post-colonial engagement with African countries and regional organizations (Bachmann and Sidaway, 2010;Hansen and Jonsson, 2012;Haastrup, 2013;Hurt, 2003;Rutazibwa, 2010;Staegar, 2016). By providing a middle-ground approach to understanding contemporary European-African relations, this article points out how the diffusion of EU norms has been received, localized and contested by African parliamentary agents.…”
This article assesses EU–Africa inter‐regionalism and the reception of EU norms by African actors, by investigating the relations between the European Parliament (EP) and the Pan‐African Parliament (PAP). By exploring this interparliamentary dialogue, the article draws attention to the contradictions of African perceptions on European integration, which is simultaneously seen as an inspiration and a neo‐imperialist project. The EP was considered a role model to the PAP and was also one of its main supporters. However, European involvement in African issues has not always been regarded as positive. Post‐colonial and pan‐African discourses found in African statements have reinforced their resistance to European engagement in African politics. After discussing these ambivalent narratives on the EU, this article addresses the way that these perceptions impact on AU–EU inter‐regional relations, arguing that these mixed views towards the Europeans have undermined the diffusion of EU norms and the levels of trust in this relationship, preventing the joint Africa–Europe strategy from attaining its ambitions.
“…In light of emerging challenges, Federalism has been advanced as a way of improving the 4.5 system, but not as a means of redressing it (Mosely, ): yet it carries with it the same core assumptions – that the challenges of Somalia's social make‐up can be politically managed by transferring clan‐based representation to the nation state. In the International Relations literature, European values are mostly couched from the inside‐out in Western universalist terms, especially as they relate to Africa (Staeger, ). Somali students learn about these changes mainly from the media, which is often polarised and partisan, but are not afforded the opportunity to reflect in a structured manner on this in the classroom.…”
Section: The Evolution Of the Somali Conflictmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Staeger has stated in relation to Africa that the now decade‐long debate on NPE:has shaped Africa–EU relations considerably, especially since the founding of the AU (African Union). Yet while the EU aspires to be a post‐imperial, normative power, this postcolonial critique suggests NPE is a neo‐Kantian, Eurocentric discourse that reinvigorates an outdated European moral paternalism (Staeger, , p. 981).…”
Section: Normative Power Europe and Eu Foreign Policymentioning
This paper examines the connections between identity politics and European Union (EU) aid effectiveness in peacebuilding education in Somalia. It engages with a severe educational challenge, which is that a lack of capacity in rigorous educational design and/or implementation across Somali Ministries in the South Central Zone, Somaliland and Puntland has led to the importation of multiple foreign curricula into the country simultaneously that do not address Somali history and contemporary conflict drivers and that frequently clash with local values as well as with each other. We critique this from a ‘new barbarism’ perspective, arguing that Somali voices and educational priorities have not been provided a sufficient space for expression in the EU debate on the global and therefore also the national development agenda.
“…However, as Tocci (2008) 15 warns, along with other authors, e.g. Sjursen (2006) and Staeger (2016), analysts should be careful not to engage in some imperialistic imposition of norms by judging what is subjectively considered as 'good' on the grounds of presumed universality. Thus, the concept of normative power tends to rest on the assumption there are cosmopolitan norms and values that transcend the particularistic claims of discrete political communities (Zupančič and Hribernik 2013).…”
Section: Understanding Normative Power: What Is It (Not)?mentioning
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