Tag: Geopolitics

International funding for peacebuilding: Will COVID-19 change or reinforce existing trends?
Covid-19 / ECDPM

International funding for peacebuilding: Will COVID-19 change or reinforce existing trends?

COVID-19 has exacerbated factors influencing international support for peacebuilding, including a more volatile geopolitical order and changes in domestic priorities in donor countries. Peacebuilding and a conflict-sensitive approach have not yet been at the forefront of the international responses to COVID-19, undermining attempts to ‘build back better’ in a world where negative conflict dynamics are increasingly apparent.

European fear of ‘missing out’ and narratives on China in Africa
ECDPM / Publication

European fear of ‘missing out’ and narratives on China in Africa

The ETTG note debunks some of the dominant myths surrounding Chinese engagement in Africa and unpacks the evolving relationship between China and the African continent. It starts by looking closer at common European perceptions about China-Africa relations. It then provides a brief sketch of the historical underpinnings of China’s engagement in Africa. Afterwards, it looks at how the notion of competition with rising global powers like China has influenced the EU’s relations with African partners.

The China-Africa summit on COVID-19: Geopolitical and economic considerations
Covid-19 / ECDPM

The China-Africa summit on COVID-19: Geopolitical and economic considerations

While the EU weeps over the slow progress in the preparation of the EU-Africa Summit in October – partly slowed down by the COVID-19 pandemic – China and African leaders held an ‘Extraordinary China-Africa Summit on Solidarity Against COVID-19’ last week. Thirteen African leaders took part in this virtual event, including South Africa’s President and African Union Chairperson, Cyril Ramaphosa, and Moussa Faki Mahamat, Chair of the African Union Commission.

European Defence in the Post-COVID World
Covid-19 / IAI

European Defence in the Post-COVID World

The EU project is often described as an eternal work in progress, a “beautiful yet still incomplete masterpiece”, primarily because of its inability, with a few exceptions, to reach shared decisions, thus effectively exercising its full power potential. It has been said that the European Union could “potentially” become a fully-fledged member of the looming multi-polar system of global governance, provided that it not only develops its economic power, which is insufficient on its own, but also diplomatic, informational and military capabilities.

Geopolitical Shifts and the Post-COVID World: Europe and the Multipolar System
Covid-19 / IAI

Geopolitical Shifts and the Post-COVID World: Europe and the Multipolar System

The full extent of COVID-19’s impact on global geopolitical balances cannot yet be assessed. Nevertheless, a number of trends are clearly emerging and these have already upset a number of balances which previously seemed unchangeable. COVID-19 is evidently not the cause of such changes, which had been well underway before the outbreak, but the pandemic has become a litmus test that has further thrust these developments under the political spotlight.

COVID-19 Exposes Italy's Vulnerability to US-China Antagonism
Covid-19 / IAI

COVID-19 Exposes Italy’s Vulnerability to US-China Antagonism

Both the US and China seem to see the COVID-19 crisis through the lenses of geopolitical competition. A desire to repair its international reputation and gain influence underlies China’s offer of medical equipment and sanitary know-how to countries hit by the contagion – the so-called “mask diplomacy”