United States Africa Command – Balance of Activities during the Presidencies of George H. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12797/Politeja.19.2022.76.13Keywords:
U.S. Africa Command, U.S. Armed Forces, International Security, Foreign Policy, African StatesAbstract
The article aims at analyzing the development of the U.S. Africa Command during the three presidential administrations of George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump. According to the author, the attitude of individual American presidents and their administration to the U.S. AFRICOM is an accurate reflection of the approach to both the problems of African states and the place of Africa in the foreign and security policy of the United States. Since the foundation of the U.S. AFRICOM by the administration of G.W. Bush to D. Trump’s desire to liquidate the command. Trump’s attitude to Africa is also illustrated by the fact that he was the first American president since Ronald Reagan who did not visit any of the 54 African states. His two predecessors paid nine such official visits to African countries in total. It seems that despite many myths and fears that accompanied the birth of AFRICOM and during its first years of existence, the worst scenarios have not come to fruition. AFRICOM has not militarized Africa, it has not caused the drastic exacerbation of the rivalry with China in the region, and it has not become the military arm of US expansionism on the continent. What is more, even many skeptics among African state leaders have noted that it has thus far played and continues to play a positive role in counteracting terrorism, therefore, it has supported the stability of African countries.
Downloads
PlumX Metrics of this article
References
Abraham C., “Eritrea – Ethiopia Tensions”, New African, no. 563 ( July 2016).
Google Scholar
“African Oil: A Priority for U.S. National Security and African”, African Oil Policy Initiative Group, at http://www.iasps.org/strategic/africawhitepaper.pdf.
Google Scholar
African Standby Force, at http://www.africa-union.org/root/AU/AUC/Departments/PSC/Asf/asf.htm.
Google Scholar
Barnett T.P.M., The Pentagon’s New Map: War and Peace in the Twenty-First Century, Washington 2004.
Google Scholar
Berschinski R.G., AFRICOM’s Dilemma: The “Global War on Terrorism,” “Capacity Building,” Humanitarianism, and the Future of U.S. Security Policy in Africa, Strategic Studies Institute, United States Army War College, November 2007, pp. 3-6.
Google Scholar
Boutwell J., Klare M.T., “Waging a New Kind of War: A Scourge of Small Arms”, Scientific American, vol. 282, no. 6 (2000), https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican0600-48.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican0600-48
Google Scholar
Burger J., “The Return of Russia to Africa”, New African, no. 588 (November 2018).
Google Scholar
“Can Africa out-trump Trump?”, New African, no. 571 (April 2017).
Google Scholar
Clark J.F., “The Clinton Administration and Africa: White House Involvement and the Foreign Affairs Bureaucracies”, Journal of Opinion, vol. 26, no. 2 (1998), at http://www.jstor.org/pss/1166821, https://doi.org/10.2307/1166821.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/1166821
Google Scholar
“Clinton Praises ‘New Nigeria’”, BBC News, 26 August 2000, at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/897423.stm.
Google Scholar
“China’s African Oil Hunt Revisited”, International Relations and Security Network, Security Watch, at http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/Security-Watch/Detail/?id=52652&lng=en.
Google Scholar
“China’s Trade and Investment Relationship in Africa”, April 2013, Brookings, at https://www.usitc.gov/publications/332/2013-04_China-Africa(GamacheHammerJones).pdf.
Google Scholar
“Clinton’s Africa Trip Ends with a Promise”, The Washington Post, 15 August 2009, at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2009/08/14/ST2009081403320.html?sid=ST2009081403320.
Google Scholar
Cohen S.B., Geopolitics: The Geography of International Relations, Lanham 2014.
Google Scholar
Collins T., “Is al-Shabaab Becoming Bolder?”, New African, no. 601 (April/May 2020).
Google Scholar
Congressional Budget Justification Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, Department of State, Fiscal Year 2020.
Google Scholar
Copson R.W., The United States in Africa: Bush Policy and Beyond, London–New York 2007, https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350223608.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350223608
Google Scholar
“Decision Regarding Delimitation of the Border between Eritrea and Ethiopia, Decision of 13 April 2002”, Reports of International Arbitral Awards, vol. 25, pp. 83-95, United Nations, December 2008, at http://legal.un.org/riaa/cases/vol_XXV/83-195.pdf, https://doi.org/10.18356/65fe2835-en-fr.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18356/65fe2835-en-fr
Google Scholar
Deutsch P.J., “Energy Independence”, Foreign Policy, November–December 2005.
Google Scholar
Diamond L., “Democracy in Decline: How Washington Can Reverse the Tide”, Foreign Affairs, vol. 95, no. 4 ( July/August 2016).
Google Scholar
Diop B.B., “The Danger of ‘Yes Sir’ Politics”, New African, no. 562 ( June 2016).
Google Scholar
“Diplomat, Admiral Become Co-Deputies of U.S Africa Command”, U.S. AFRICOM Public Affairs, 29 October 2007, at http://www.africom.mil/getArticle.art=1576/.
Google Scholar
“DoD Establishing U.S. Africa Command”, Department of Defense, at http://www.defense.gov/News/NewsArticle.aspx?id=2940.
Google Scholar
“DoD News Briefing-Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for African Affairs, Michael A. Westphal”, US Department of Defense News Transcript, 2 April 2002, at http://www.defenselink.mil.
Google Scholar
Dowden R., Africa, Alerted States, Ordinary Miracles, London 2009.
Google Scholar
Dubé F., “China’s Experiment in Djibouti”, The Diplomat, at https://thediplomat.com/2016/10/chinas-experiment-in-djibouti/.
Google Scholar
“Electrify Africa Act of 2015 – Report to Congress”, USAID, at https://www.usaid.gov/open/electrify-africa/2016.
Google Scholar
Everstine B.W., “AFRICOM Nominee: Russia, China Growing Concern in Africa”, Air Force Magazine, 2 April 2019, at https://www.airforcemag.com/africom-nominee-russia-chinagrowing-concern-in-africa/.
Google Scholar
Fabricus P., “AFRICOM May Be Looking for a New Home”, 18 September 2020, Institute for Security Studies, at https://issafrica.org/iss-today/africom-may-be-looking-for-a-new-home.
Google Scholar
Feleke E., L.A. Picard, T.F. Buss, “African Security Challenges and AFRICOM”, in: T.F. Buss, J. Adjaye, D. Goldstein, L.A. Picard (eds.), African Security and the African Command:Viewpoints on the US role in Africa, Sterling 2011.
Google Scholar
Foy H., “Russia to Build Naval Base in Sudan”, Financial Times, 16 November 2020.
Google Scholar
Frazer J., Exploring the U.S. Africa Command and New Strategic Relationship with Africa, Testimony Before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Subcommittee on African Affairs, Washington, DC, 1 August 2007, at https://fas.org/irp/congress/2007_hr/africom.pdf.
Google Scholar
“General William E. ‘Kip’ Ward Commander United States Africa Command”, U.S. Africa Command, at http://www.africom.mil/ward.asp.
Google Scholar
Heisbourg F., “A Surprising Little War: First Lessons of Mali”, Survival. Global Politics and Strategy, vol. 55, no. 2 (April–May 2013), https://doi.org/10.1080/00396338.2013.784458.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00396338.2013.784458
Google Scholar
“Hillary on Safari”, The Economist, 15 August 2009.
Google Scholar
“History Southern European Task Force”, U.S. Army in Africa, at http://www.usaraf.army.mil/history.html.
Google Scholar
The International Institute for Strategic Studies (ed.), The Military Balance 2012. The Annual Assessment of Global Military Capabilities and Defence Economics, London 2012.
Google Scholar
The International Institute for Strategic Studies (ed.), The Military Balance 2013. The Annual Assessment of Global Military Capabilities and Defence Economics, London 2013.
Google Scholar
The International Institute for Strategic Studies (ed.), The Military Balance 2017. The Annual Assessment of Global Military Capabilities and Defence Economics, London 2017.
Google Scholar
Interview with Vincent Crawley, Deputy Director of Public Affairs U.S. Africa Command, Kelley Barracks, Stuttgart, 1 December 2010.
Google Scholar
Kagan R., The Return of History and The End of Dreams, New York 2009.
Google Scholar
Keenan J.H., “War Games in the Sahel”, New African, no. 568 ( January 2017).
Google Scholar
Kempe F., “Africa Emerges as a Strategic Battlefield”, Wall Street Journal, 25 April 2006.
Google Scholar
Klare M., Volman D., “The African ‘Oil Rush’ and US National Security”, Third World Quarterly, vol. 27, no. 4, https://doi.org/10.1080/01436590600720835.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01436590600720835
Google Scholar
Kłosowicz R., “The Role of Ethiopia in the Regional Security Complex of the Horn of Africa”, Ethiopian Journal of Social Sciences and Language Studies, vol. 2, no. 2 (2015).
Google Scholar
Kłosowicz R., U.S. Marines jako narzędzie polityki zagranicznej Stanów Zjednoczonych Ameryki, Kraków 2008.
Google Scholar
Kłosowicz R., Mormul J., Erytrea i jej wpływ na sytuację polityczną w Rogu Afryki, Kraków 2018.
Google Scholar
Kościółek J., USA wobec ludobójstwa w Afryce: Rola amerykańskiej kultury politycznej w ewolucji polityki antyludobójczej, Warszawa 2019.
Google Scholar
Kumelska M., „Problemy pomocy dla Afryki w okresie prezydentury George’a W. Busha Juniora”, Forum Politologiczne, vol. 12 (2011).
Google Scholar
Lach Z., Skrzyp J., Geopolityka i geostrategia, Warszawa 2007.
Google Scholar
Landau E., Osama ben Laden: Wojna z Zachodem, przeł. K. Gradoń, Warszawa 2011.
Google Scholar
Mania A., Department of State 1789-1939: Pierwsze 150 lat udziału w polityce zagranicznej USA, Kraków 2011.
Google Scholar
„MARFORAF Stands Up as Corps’ Newest Command”, U.S. Africa Command, 14 November 2008, at http://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=2251&lang=0.
Google Scholar
Mengisteab K., The Horn of Africa, Cambridge 2014.
Google Scholar
McCrisken T., “Obama’s Drone War”, Survival: Global Politics and Strategy, vol. 55, no. 2 (April–May 2013), https://doi.org/10.1080/00396338.2013.784469.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00396338.2013.784469
Google Scholar
Mearsheimer J.J., Walt M., “The Case for Offshore Balancing”, Foreign Affairs, July/August 2016.
Google Scholar
“Middle East Oil Less Important than African Oil for USA”, Mongabay, 22 February 2007, at http://news.mongabay.com/2007/02/middle-east-oil-less-important-than-african-oil-for-us/.
Google Scholar
Mormul J., “Problem łamania praw człowieka w państwach dysfunkcyjnych: Przypadek dzieci żołnierzy”, in: R. Kłosowicz (ed.), Państwa dysfunkcyjne i międzynarodowe wysiłki zmierzające do ich naprawy, Kraków 2014.
Google Scholar
“National Security Review 30: American Policy Towards Africa in the 1990s-Key Findings”, AllAfrica, at https://allafrica.com/stories/200101080520.html.
Google Scholar
“The National Security Strategy of the United States of America”, Washington, D.C., The White House: President George W. Bush, 20 September 2002, at https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/nsc/nss/2002/.
Google Scholar
A New National Security Strategy of the United States of America, December 2017, at https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/NSS-Final-12-18-2017-0905.pdf.
Google Scholar
“Obama’s Speech in Ghana”, [Remarks by the president to the Ghanaian Parliament], 11 July 2009, at https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-ghanaian-parliament.
Google Scholar
“Obama Visit Stirs Pride Among Ghanaians”, The Washington Post, 11 July 2009.
Google Scholar
Pellerin Ch., “Obama to Announce AFRICOM Joint Force Command HQ in Liberia”, DoD News, 16 September 2014, at https://www.defense.gov/Explore/News/Article/Article/603259/obama-to-announce-africom-joint-force-command-hq-in-liberia/.
Google Scholar
“Pentagon Creates Military Command for Africa”, National Public Radio: News and Analysis, 7 February 2007, at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7234997.
Google Scholar
Ploch L., “Africa Command: U.S. Strategic Interests and the Role of the U.S. Military in Africa”,Congressional Research Service, 3 April 2010
Google Scholar
“President Bill Clinton’s Africa Trip”, August 2000, Africa South of the Sahara, at http://wwwsul.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/africa/clinton2000.html.
Google Scholar
“Presidential and Secretaries Travels Abroad”, President Barack Obama, Department of State.
Google Scholar
Office of the Historian, at https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/travels/president/obama-barack.
Google Scholar
Prosper Africa: U.S. Trade and Investment Initiative, at https://www.trade.gov/prosper-africa. “Remarks by National Security Advisor Ambassador John Bolton on the Trump Administration’s New Africa Strategy”, Washington, 13 December 2018, at https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-national-security-advisor-ambassador-john-r-boltontrump-administrations-new-africa-strategy/.
Google Scholar
Rondeaux C., “Cutting U.S. Funding for AFRICOM Is a Losing Proposition”, World Politics Review, 21 February 2020, at https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/28550/cutting-u-s-funding-for-africom-is-a-losing-proposition.
Google Scholar
Rothchild D., Keller E., Africa-US Relations: Strategic Encounters, London 2006.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781626372030
Google Scholar
Raji R., “More Caviar, Fewer Guns on Sochi Menu?”, New African, no. 598 (October 2019).
Google Scholar
“Russia, Wagner Group Complicating Libyan Ceasefire Efforts”, 15 July 2020, AFRICOM, at https://www.africom.mil/pressrelease/33008/russia-wagner-group-complicating-libyan-cease.
Google Scholar
Scahill J., Brudne wojny, transl. by J. Małecki, Kraków 2014.
Google Scholar
|17th Air Force, at http://www.17af.usafe.af.mil/.
Google Scholar
Statement of General Thomas D. Waldhauser, United States Marine Corps Commander United States Africa Command before the Senate Committee on Armed Services, 7 February 2019, at https://www.armed-services.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Waldhauser_02-07-19.pdf.
Google Scholar
Strategic Survey 2007: The Annual Review of World Affairs, London 2007.
Google Scholar
Strategic Survey 2008: The Annual Review of World Affairs, London 2008.
Google Scholar
Strategic Survey 2020: The Annual Review of World Affairs, London 2010.
Google Scholar
“Terrorism in Africa is No Longer Somebody Else’s War”, New African, no. 560 (April 2016).
Google Scholar
Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Initiative (TSCTI), at http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/tscti.htm.
Google Scholar
Trzcionka M., “Polityka sankcji Stanów Zjednoczonych wobec Chin w latach 1950-2007”, in: K. Budzowski (ed.), Wybrane aspekty handlu międzynarodowego, Kraków 2008.
Google Scholar
Trzcionka M., Sankcje gospodarcze w polityce zagranicznej USA po II wojnie światowej, Kraków 2015.
Google Scholar
“U.S. Africa Command Stands Up”, United States Africa Command, 9 October 2008, at http://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=2177.
Google Scholar
“US AFRICOM headquarters to remain in Germany for ‘foreseeable future’”, 19 February 2008, Herald Tribune, at http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/02/19/africa/AF-GENUS-Africa-Command.php.
Google Scholar
“U.S. Army Europe and Africa Commands Consolidate”, U.S. Army Public Affairs, 20 November 2020, at https://army.mil/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.army.mil%2Farticle%2F241094%2Fu_s_army_europe_and_africa_commands_consolidate.
Google Scholar
U.S. Army in Africa, at http://www.usaraf.army.mil/mission.html.
Google Scholar
“U.S. European Command Statement Following President Bush’s Remarks Addressing Global Posture”, United States European Command, 16 August 2004, at http://www.eucom.mil/english/FullStory.asp?art=282.
Google Scholar
“U.S. President Bill Clinton in Africa”, 27 March – 2 April 1998, AllAfrica, at http://allafrica.com/specials/clinton2000/clinton_res.html.
Google Scholar
“United States Africa Command”, U.S. AFRICOM Public Affairs Office, at http://www.africom.mil/getArticle.asp?art=1644#.
Google Scholar
„The Vice President Appears on Meet the Press with Tim Russert”, Camp David, 16 September 2016, The White House: President George W. Bush, at https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/vicepresident/news-speeches/speeches/vp20010916.html.
Google Scholar
Volman D., AFRICOM: The New U.S. Military Command for Africa, African Security Research Project, June 2008, at http://concernedafricascholars.org/african-security-researchproject/?p=12.
Google Scholar
Volman D., “Africom to Continue Under Obama”, Global Research, http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=14131.
Google Scholar
Volman D., “The Bush Administration and African Oil: The Security Implications of US Energy Policy”, Review of African Political Economy, vol. 30, no. 98 (December 2003), https://doi.org/10.1080/04.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/04
Google Scholar
Venter A.J., “Keeping the Terrorists at Bay: ISIS, AQ Moved to Africa”, New African, no. 601 (April/May 2020).
Google Scholar
Wambu O., “Obama: The Final Verdict”, New African, no. 565 (October 2016).
Google Scholar
“Where Does America’s Oil Come From?”, World Economic Forum, at http://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/08/where-america-oil-come-from.
Google Scholar
“Why the U.S. Military is in Niger”, United States Africa Command, 20 October 2017, at https://www.africom.mil/article/30023/why-the-u-s-military-is-in-niger.
Google Scholar
Wiatr K., „Trudne początki Africomu”, 5 October 2008, Portal Spraw Zagranicznych, at http://www.psz.pl/tekst-13863/Trudne-poczatki-AFRICOMu.
Google Scholar
Zachara M., “Międzynarodowy handel bronią jako czynnik destabilizujący sytuację państw dysfunkcyjnych”, in: R. Kłosowicz (ed.), Państwa dysfunkcyjne i ich destabilizujący wpływ na stosunki międzynarodowe, Kraków 2013.
Google Scholar
Zimmerman J., “Trump, as Africans See Him”, New African, no. 564 (October 2016).
Google Scholar
Zimmerman K., “Why the US Should Spend 0.3 Percent of Its Defense Budget to Prevent an African Debacle”, Military Times, 12 March 2020, at https://www.militarytimes.com/opinion/commentary/2020/03/12/why-the-us-should-spend-03-percent-of-its-defensebudget-to-prevent-an-african-debacle/.
Google Scholar
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.