Paper short abstract:

An investigation into American and British political and economic strategies to protect and extend their strategic interests in sub-Saharan Africa’s energy resources in the context of increasing competition for resources from emerging markets in the Global South, notably China and the other BRICS.

Paper long abstract:

In their respective roles as Africa's formerly dominant imperial power and the dominant power of the post-WWII era, Britain and the United States have significant economic and strategic interests across sub-Saharan Africa including in the continent's crucial energy resources. In the last decade, the power and influence in Africa of major Western powers has experienced a relative decline as emerging markets of the Global South, in particular China, have rapidly entered African markets to pursue their own economic and strategic interests. A proliferating literature on the 'new scramble for Africa' - not only its energy and other natural resources, but also its growing commercial markets - reflects this global power shift away from the West. How established powers like the US and Britain can protect and expand their vital energy interests in Africa will significantly impact on their ability to remain competitive and powerful economic actors, despite relative decline vis-à-vis emerging markets. The increasing competition for Africa's resources and markets also has profound implications for the possibility of African states to promote their own interests in the pursuit of socio-economic development. This paper investigates how American and British strategies in competing for energy resources in Africa differ from each other, and how they compare to the strategies employed by the major emerging market states. It does so by drawing on interviews conducted in Washington, London and Brussels with policymakers and related actors engaged with African economic relations, as well as the growing political and economic literature on the 'new scramble for Africa'.