The mutualisation of powers: an African South-South cooperation strategy

Abstract

Beyond its references to the founding principle of Third Worldism, South-South cooperation – like all other forms of cooperation – is characterised by the relations between powers. With this in mind, over the past 15 years Africa has developed a strategy that underscores the capacities of the leading African states for action and influence in the effective realisation of common objectives in the continent’s relations with its foreign partners. The aim of this contribution is, therefore, to study how this “strategy of the mutualisation of powers” is put into practice as an African response – at the legal and institutional level in particular, how it is implemented in terms of South-South cooperation in the era of the rise of Asia, and its challenges and prospects.

Keywords

• South-South cooperation
• Africa
• powers
• strategies
• mutualisation
• China
• India