The Race for Leadership in the Global South

The Case of India’s Africa Policy

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-646-8_6How to use a DOI?

Keywords

India; Africa; Global South; Global Order; Great Power Status

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the rapidly developing India-Africa relations in recent years by addressing the diplomatic, economic and security dimensions of the relations. The emergence of a multipolar international order radically changed the way global powers and actors seeking to achieve global power status interact with Africa. The actors aiming to gain a strong position in the emerging new global order identified the African continent as a primary target both to develop their economies and to gain strategic advantages. Hence, a growing number of actors, mostly from the so-called Global South, comprising emerging economies, including China, India, the Gulf Arab states, and Türkiye, are making a concerted effort to gain influence on the continent through partnerships with African nations. Among these actors, India emerged as an important player in the continent in recent years, strengthening its strategic ties with African nations. New Delhi’s Africa policy evolved significantly, reflecting its growing economic, strategic, and political interests in the continent. This study examines India’s evolving relations with Africa at three interconnected levels (global, regional and bilateral), focusing on developments in politics, economics and defense over the last two decade. In this context, the study, which seeks to answer the question of how India’s quest to lead the Global South relates to its relations with Africa, is guided by the arguments of neoclassical realist theory, while the process tracing method is used to understand the domestic and systemic dimensions of India’ rapprochement with Africa.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Ahmet Üçağaç
AU  - Ensar Muslu
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/01/31
TI  - The Race for Leadership in the Global South
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Strategic and Global Studies (ICSGS 2024)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 77
EP  - 89
SN  - 2667-128X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-646-8_6
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-646-8_6
ID  - Üçağaç2025
ER  -