Foreign Policy in Africa

MAGIC IN FOREIGN POLICY

Every sane country existing on the globe fails not to marry its foreign policy and domestic policy. There is an overlap in foreign policy and domestic policy. There is a strong bond and connexion between the two policies. The interconnectedness is such that one can be problematic for another if not properly articulated and coordinated. Foreign policy is domestic policy extended. Domestic policy is foreign policy localised. The two add up to give nations unique bearings. The most common error in Africa is the neglect of foreign policy over the years. It has made her nothing but a puppet in both the domestic scene and international arena.

Foreign foreign according Charles Adenrele Alade is a coordinated strategy with which institutionally designated decision makers seek to manipulate the international environment in order to achieve certain national objectives. Foreign policy is an international translation of domestic. Siamese twins. The long neglect of these two conjoined children in Africa has continued to make the continent a beggar of ideas.

The US from inception weaves her international rapport with all countries around the promotion of democracy. Though she has many waiver especially during the Cold War and among countries who support Israel. In all these cases, she has cause(s) to back autocrats. Despite this, she continues to emphasize on democratic exportation as her foreign policy objective. From isolationism to internationalism and now interventionism, foreign policy is a constant in all her elections and domestic analysis. Russia is no exception. She transcends from Communism International (Comintern) to Communism in one nation and sphere of influence during the Soviet days. In all her elections, her rapport with the West is a recurrence which usually indicates what her foreign policy will look like. How about China? The principle of pure economic contacts with no political pressure underlays her international commitment and she never jettisons such.

Major and lesser powers like India, Japan, South Korea, Venezuela, Brasil, Canada, Singapore, Thailand among others all have domestic ideologies which they import to the foreign scene. The hidden treasure in foreign policy is that it gives domestic policy a plausible direction. If a nation really stands for a particular ideology on the foreign scene, hardly will she neglect the domestic path to greatness and viability. The lack of coherent foreign policies by African states is the bane of their clumsy and floppy domestic policies. They simply have almost nothing worth standing for and defending. Foreign policy comes with a kind of R2P (Responsibility to Protect). Foreign policy comes with commitment and integrity. With foreign policy, a country knows what and when to act in situations affecting it and not just follow others in a gullible fashion. African nations have been gullible followers.

The founding fathers of Africa all had foreign policy acts as part of their daily domestic policy analysis. The need to relate with the outside world and prove that the states they led are not proteges to anybody or nation. This was dominant and crucial to them, hence, foreign policy was a constant. Through their domestic policies, the club in which they belong on the foreign scene can easily be known especially during the Cold War. Julius Nyerere's Ujamaa in Tanzania reinforced the socialist ideology of Africa as well as Kwame Nkrumah's African Socialism. The organisation of their contries then was in line with the professed ideologies. They chose friends and foes on the basis of this. Jomo Kenyatta's Kenya was more of an African Socialist state too. Gamel Abdel Nasser led Egypt as an Arab Giant. The foreign policy of Egypt as at then was to be the foremost Islamic and Arab voice. A model for the Middle East. Ironically, Egypt lost track. Kemal Attarturk of Turkey took Turkey through the tumultous road and sojourn with a secular domestic policy which gave and continues to give Turkey a direction in foreign policy.

Foreign policy protects domestic policy. It is of note that foreign policy gives life to domestic policy. The case of Turkey proves how foreign policy serves as the custodian of a coherent domestic policy. Each time Turkey takes a step against secularism, she is being reminded by many on the foreign scene of her international clout as a model for the Arab World. The focused foreign policy led her to NATO. This is so because foreign policy ensures a nation chooses priorities and aligns with those nations who can make her achieve her aspirations. Most African nations chose non-alignment immediately after independence and this served as the platform with which they relate with the world. Foreign policy is a prism. Nigeria in her early years stood on the platform of Africa as the centre-piece of her foreign policy, hence everything that concerned Africa was her exclusive interest. As inconsistent as she was in implementing this, she at least had a focus. It was only Murtala Mohammed that gave life to the policy.

Today, African states are almost no longer holding any force on the foreign scene because they are directionless. Both the West and East manipulate and controls the continent at will. They give Africa crumbs and use one country against another as well as leaders against their people. The African continent has become so brittle and extremely powerless. Africa is the only continent that has not planned her way out of the Cold war. The lack of foreign policy posture by African states is the major rationale why Africa became the hotbed of war in the Post-Cold war era. Africa simply did not get herself. Conformity seems to be the only watchword Africa knows. If China is the wave today, Africa will follow. If it is Brasil tomorrow, Africa will yield to her demands. If it is Iran that comes later, Africa is always ready to put her hands at the back and trail.

Africa is the only continent where foreign troops dock with little or no regard for possible rejections. Other nations come to Africa when they feel like without anyone talking. In fact, there will not be any debate as to the consequences of any nefarious action taken in Africa by other nations across the atlantic. From Congo to Somalia, to Ivory Coast down to Libya and back to Congo, Africa has always been the playground of Western nations. The lack of foreign policy makes African countries the only countries on the globe that rush to respect international law. This is in no way a campaign for international anarchy but a clarion call for African nations to be weary of laws that entrench the principle of 'might is right'. Africa is the continent that cannot separate the designs of Western countries in making her succumb to their whims and caprices from acts of real of international obligations. Africa must marry foreign policy with domestic aspirations if truly she wants to be relevant on the globe.