Militarization and Securitization in Africa: The Role of Sino-American Geostrategic Presence.

• Author: Conteh-Morgan, Earl
• Position: ARTICLE

Introduction

Contrary to the popular consensus that Africa is non-geostrategic, it has nonetheless experienced three "scrambles:" the 19th century scramble for colonies that balkanized it into over 50 states, the ideological Cold War rivalry of the immediate post WWII period, and the current rivalry and focus of China and the United States on the continent along with the presence of other great, middle, and emerging powers. (1) Indeed, while not as obvious as Sino-American rivalry, other significant powers such as Japan, India, Russia, Turkey, and Iran, among others, are also serious about gaining a strategic foothold on the continent. While the efforts of all of these countries point significantly to Africa's relevance, the Sino-American rivalry and/or cooperation in Africa, in particular, have greatly contributed to the ongoing militarization and securitization of the continent. These two great powers are perennially competing for geopolitical and economic advantages in Africa, defined in terms of natural resources, markets, investment outlets, and political influence within its varied nation-states. (2) While the competition over Africa by the more powerful states is now mostly over economic influence, the U.S.' need to maintain hegemonic dominance, and Chinas efforts to ensure its geo-economic interests, have naturally spurred both countries to protect those interests via a robust military presence on the continent. In addition, in an era of growing religious militancy, piracy, and terrorism, both great powers, China and the U.S., are working to ensure the protection of both their African interests and their national security, either in competition or in cooperation with one another on the continent.

The objective of this analysis is to: (i) examine the relationship between increasing terrorist attacks, internal rebellions against incumbent state regimes, incidents of piracy, and the vastly increased American and Chinese military presence in Africa; (ii) analyze the connection between Sino-American geo-economic interests and the deepening militarization and securitization of the African continent; and (iii) discuss differences in the nature of the American and Chinese militarization and securitization of the continent. In other words, in what ways have the two largest economies of the world militarized and securitized Africa? What activities constitute the militarization and securitization of the continent? And perhaps most importantly, why are the U.S. and China militarizing and securitizing the continent?

Conceptual Clarifications and Theoretical Grounding

The Sino-American militarization of Africa here refers to the increased deployment and accumulation of capabilities--armed forces, arms transfers, and military bases--as a result of factors such as the war on terrorism, piracy, domestic rebellions against incumbent regimes, and a logical need to protect expanding geopolitical and economic interests as part of the quiet and ongoing great-power rivalry on the continent, or as a result of expected great power responsibilities. Militarization is therefore comprised of arms transfers, troop deployment, peacekeeping activities, military engagement against terrorist groups, anti-piracy activities, military training and advising, and the establishment of military bases. (3) All of these activities are pursued by the two powers in order to have a permanent military presence on the continent.

Militarization takes the form of strengthening African militaries through joint training and combat activities with better-equipped American and Chinese troops in order to forestall or contain terrorist attacks against economic interests. Militarization could, therefore, be conceptualized as Africa's propensity to attract external military presence as a result of terrorist attacks which threaten the economic interests of the great powers. It is the deliberate policy of ensuring that African states, in cooperation with American and Chinese troops, develop effective military containment against terrorist attacks which pose a threat to the security of incumbent African regimes and the security of the economic and political interests of foreign powers, including those of the U.S. and China.

In particular, the Copenhagen School on securitization underscores the function of the "speech act" in securitizing an issue. (4) The securitization of Africa is thus the verbal (oral and written) articulation of the geostrategic importance of Africa to both the U.S. and China. (5) Such articulation is reflected in policy statements whereby terrorism, rebellion, or violence in Africa have been deemed of such extreme threat to the national security and geo-economic interests of the U.S. and China that they must be contained by and dealt with through military strategy and tactics directed at eliminating the threats. In the case of both the U.S. and China in Africa, the "speech act," i.e. the act of identifying threats to national security, has progressed to the actual setting up of military bases and the deployment of combat troops to ensure the security of their respective geopolitical and economic investments. Moreover, the activities of China in Africa have been articulated by the most recent 2017 National Security Strategy (NSS) of the United States as problems alarming to U.S. national security. (6) In other words, Chinas already heavy presence and its growing involvement on the continent have been securitized, i.e. viewed as a "threat to U.S. national security." Chinas presence and activities on the continent have thus been elevated in the eyes of the West to the level of high politics as opposed to low politics.

China, for its part, has been willing to dilute its longstanding foreign policy of non-interference and add to its involvement in traditional peacekeeping and peacebuilding activities the need to engage in military combat in order to protect its interests in Africa. For China, the threats of terrorism and piracy to its vested interests in Africa have even impelled it to upgrade potential threats from a low political priority concern, to a high political priority concern, hence the need to deploy combat troops and establish its first ever foreign naval base in Djibouti. Chinas decision in 2013 to deploy combat troops to Mali and to send troops to protect its investments in South Sudan is an indication by China to designate rebel violence and terroristic developments in Africa as a security threat to its geopolitical and economic interest on the continent. (7) The securitization of Africa is therefore a process that has evolved from foreign policy doctrine and/or speech acts to the implementation of the speech act strategy into practical tactics such as joint military exercises, the establishment of military bases, cooperation in combatting the threat, and ensuring that African militaries become more effective at containing threats to the national security of state actors.

Both the militarization and securitization of Africa by external actors (the U.S. and China) involve the implementation of verbal (oral or written) military strategies which include troop deployment, cooperation in the armed containment of terrorist groups, the protection of geopolitical and economic interests, and the establishment of military bases designed to produce a climate of stability and security by effectively forestalling threats to internal and external interests. The consequence is the growth and increase of an external military presence in Africa which over time becomes institutionalized. The greater the domestic and external militarization and securitization, the higher the probability of a power struggle between the forces of destabilization--terrorists and rebels--and those of military security promotion--the U.S., China, and incumbent African regimes.

Moreover, it could be argued that militarization and securitization could have negative effects in the form of provoking more terrorist or rebel attacks against the U.S., China, and incumbent African regimes, because of the formers' determination to win the struggle against state actors. This means it is likely that the greater the presence of external economic interests and military presence, the greater will be the frequency of terrorist attacks on countries such as Mali, Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, and Cote dTvoire, among others. The unfolding consequence and/or action-reaction pattern between state actors and terrorist/rebel groups could be represented this way:

The overall consequence is a never-ending protracted conflict between domestic African regimes and the U.S. and China as external powers viewed as meddling in the internal affairs of the host country.

The U.S. Role in the Militarization and Securitization of Africa

A primary factor underlying the militarization and securitization of Africa by the world's two economic superpowers is China's phenomenal rise and its profound engagement with African states. The obvious economic Chinese presence on the continent has provoked great power anxiety on the part of the U.S., and is perceived as a challenge to the latter's hegemony on the continent. As great powers, both the U.S. and China are exercising their ability to champion free trade and to guarantee the physical military security of the African states as hosts to...