Abstract
This paper explores the extent of interregional cooperation between North America and Africa in the area of development. As an initial contribution to the study of interregional relations between North America and Africa the analysis focuses on governmental and intergovernmental organisations. Through the prism of quasi-interregionalism, the authors explore relations between the United States and African regional organisations and similarly Canada and African regional organisations. The chapter also considers the motivations of Canada and the U.S. in seeking relationships at the interregional level in Africa. Using primary documents and interviews, the paper demonstrates that while overarching strategies for interregionalism may be still absent, focus on regional entities and institutions in Africa is gaining ground and coordination between the U.S. and Canada can be seen in areas of mutual interest on the continent.
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Notes
- 1.
The US-African Leaders summit in August 2014 had as its theme “Investing in the Next Generation” – a reflection of the prominence of trade and investment in current relations with Africa.
- 2.
It is acknowledged that other forms of interregionalism, namely transnational linkages between civil society organisations, may also provide potentially fruitful avenues of inquiry; civil society linkages often touch on a wide variety of areas, including development organisations, activist networks, religious institutions, diaspora associations, and the list goes on. A study of interregionalism in civil society (Söderbaum 2012) as it applies to North America and Africa provides an interesting topic for future investigation.
- 3.
Mexico has, for example, only five embassies on the continent (Mballa 2009).
- 4.
With the exception of Tanzania, the EAC member states are also members of COMESA. Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda claim membership to both the EAC and COMESA.
- 5.
Government of Canada ODA development assistance funding was around $5 billion in 2012–13 with 4 billion allocated for bilateral projects and $1.4 billion for multilateral. (DFATD 2012–13, pp: 13–14).
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Kotsopoulos, J., Goerg, M. (2018). Assessing Interregional Relations Between North America and Sub-Saharan Africa. In: Mattheis, F., Litsegård, A. (eds) Interregionalism across the Atlantic Space. United Nations University Series on Regionalism, vol 15. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62908-7_6
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