India's Strategic Engagement in Africa: Geoeconomic Partnerships as a Catalyst for Africa's Strategic Autonomy and Emergence as a Global Powerhouse in a Multipolar Order

Description

Africa is evolving rapidly. Once known as peripheral to world power, the continent currently occupies the centre of a new form of geopolitical interest, The one where instruments of geoeconomic power, rather than military alliances or aid flows are the currency of power. The involvement of India in Africa has played an intriguing role in this narrative. In contrast to the Belt and Road Initiative, which is infrastructure-intensive and has its line of conditionality in China, or the Western model of donor- South-South, India has followed the model of partnership based on South-South solidarity, human capital building, concessional lines of credit, and, more recently, on digital public goods. This chapter questions whether that model in fact enhances African strategic autonomy, or their capacity to shape their own development agenda, diversify external alliances and avoid structural dependency or is a new, less aggressive form of the asymmetric relationships that Africa has long been a victim of. Using qualitative analysis of bilateral agreements, the results of India-Africa Forum Summit, the activities of the EXIM Bank, and the multilateral positioning of India, this chapter claims that the geoeconomic involvement of India in Africa is not absolutely altruistic, nor can it be characterized as purely extractive. It is a calculated move which has been informed by the Indian interests in energy security, critical minerals, maritime access, and leadership of Global South. However, in such calculus, there is real room in which African agency can grow. With the African states liaising with India as a bloc via the African Union, instead of bilateral partners who are disjointed, the partnership becomes more purposeful to the African development agenda. The most obvious diplomatic manifestation of this new axis in the multipolar order is India championing the African Union membership in the G20 in 2023. To transform this moment into the structural power, Africa needs to surpass symbolic gains to capitalise on Indian alliances to industrialize, integrate with other African countries, and form digital sovereignty.

Institutions

• Manipal University Jaipur

  Rajasthan, Jaipur

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