India S Africa Policy

Unpacks the histories, actors and geopolitics of India's soft power and evolving engagements with Africa.

The book analyses how India's rise to the status of an emerging power has affected New Delhi's Africa policy, after sketching the historical evolution and normative underpinnings of Indo-African relations, and what challenges it has brought for New Delhi's engagement with the continent. India and Africa share a history dating back millennia. Today, India is one of Africa's biggest trading partner countries, second only to China. The country regularly extends lines of credit worth billions to African nations, and its pharmaceutical producers dominate many African markets; almost one-fifth of India's oil imports and more than one-quarter of its natural gas imports come from the continent. However, relations between India and Africa are far from being limited to economic cooperation. The book scrutinises three foreign policy fields: (1) India's foreign economic policy towards Africa with an in-depth analysis of Indo-African trade, investment and lines of credit; (2) New Delhi's development cooperation policy vis-à-vis Africa, its principles, instruments and volume; (3) India's politico-diplomatic foreign and security policy vis-à-vis Africa, including New Delhi's high-level diplomacy, security and diaspora policy as well as multilateral Africa policy. Philipp Gieg is a postdoctoral researcher at the Chair of International Relations and European Studies, Institute of Political Science and Sociology, University of Würzburg, Germany. He holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of Würzburg. His research and teaching focus on Africa's international relations, Indian and German foreign policy, global norms as well as blockchain technology and its implications for global governance. He has published on Chinese and US Africa policy, India-EU relations and edited two books on the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

This book demonstrates the changing dynamics of India’s engagement with Africa, focusing on trade, investment, official development assistance, capacity building activities and the diaspora. It also examines its impact at the economic, political and societal levels with respect to governance, democratic structures, education and health. India has competitive edge of historical goodwill and it is one of the most important countries engaging Africa in the 21st Century. For Africa, India has emerged from an aid recipient country to a major aid provider but on a basis of partnership model. The book provides a contemporary analysis and assessment of Indo-Africa relations, bringing together contributions from the Global South and from the North that explore whether the relationship is truly ‘mutually beneficial’.

Explaining the determinants of China and India’s development cooperation in Africa cannot be achieved in simple terms. After collecting over 1000 development cooperation projects by China and India in Africa using AidData, this book applies the method of qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to understand the motives behind their development cooperation. Mthembu posits that neither China nor India were solely motivated by one causal factor, whether strategic, economic or humanitarian interests or the size of their diaspora in Africa. China and India are driven by multiple and conjunctural factors in providing more development cooperation to some countries than others on the African continent. Only when some of these respective causal factors are combined is it evident that both countries disbursed high levels of development cooperation to some African countries.

This compendium showcases the ongoing trends and challenges in South-South cooperation between India and select countries in Africa, for achieving food security and poverty reduction. Scholars and practitioners share diverse perspectives on the role of India’s development compact; aid, trade, private sector driven Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs), and concessional Lines of Credit (LOCs) to the agricultural and agro-processing sector in Africa. India- Africa cooperation also underscores that the sharing of knowledge and capabilities- technical and financial, along with North- South partnerships- through trilateral and multilateral mechanisms, can upscale agriculture and agro-processing sectors to centre stage the food security agenda and reduce poverty. Arguments made through the volume critically highlight hegemonic neo-liberal economic policies, structural adjustment programmes, import substitution practices, and the denationalization of food production, and illustrate the need for sustainable and cost effective agro-ecological practices, in the face of ongoing global challenges, such as the climate emergency and degradation of biodiversity and habitats. The axial questions addressed are; how does cooperation between countries of the Global South- India and Africa - impact intra-South trading, capacity building, and the investment landscape. Scientists, academics, development professionals, government officials, NGOs and international organizations, offer the readers; empirical case studies, policy perspectives, the limitations and challenges, and the way forward in an analytical manner.

This book explores the emergence and assertion of Africa as a significant actor and stakeholder in global affairs and the transformation of the India–Africa relationship. Beginning from this strategic perspective, the book presents an in-depth exploration of India–Africa partnership in all its critical dimensions. It delineates the historical backdrop and shared colonial past to focus on and contextualise the evolution of the India–Africa engagement in the first two decades of the 21st century. The book scrutinises the unfolding international competition in Africa in depth, which includes global actors such as the EU, US, and Japan, among others, focusing especially on China's growing influence in the region. Further, it dissects objectively the continental, regional and bilateral facets of India–Africa relations and offers a roadmap to strengthen and deepen the relationship in the coming decade. This volume will be very useful for students and researchers working in the field of international relations, foreign policy, governance, geopolitics, and diplomacy.

The book analyses how India’s rise to the status of an emerging power has affected New Delhi’s Africa policy, after sketching the historical evolution and normative underpinnings of Indo-African relations, and what challenges it has brought for New Delhi’s engagement with the continent. India and Africa share a history dating back millennia. Today, India is one of Africa’s biggest trading partner countries, second only to China. The country regularly extends lines of credit worth billions to African nations, and its pharmaceutical producers dominate many African markets; almost one-fifth of India’s oil imports and more than one-quarter of its natural gas imports come from the continent. However, relations between India and Africa are far from being limited to economic cooperation. The book scrutinises three foreign policy fields: (1) India’s foreign economic policy towards Africa with an in-depth analysis of Indo-African trade, investment and lines of credit; (2) New Delhi’s development cooperation policy vis-à-vis Africa, its principles, instruments and volume; (3) India’s politico-diplomatic foreign and security policy vis-à-vis Africa, including New Delhi's high-level diplomacy, security and diaspora policy as well as multilateral Africa policy.