How have African states responded to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine?

Abstract

How have African states and their continental organisation, the African Union (AU), responded to Russia’s aggression against the Ukraine? Have they developed a sense of unity – or are historic trajectories along Cold War lines playing out? Moreover, does their reaction offer insights into the yet again changing world order? And what are the repercussions of the war on Africa in economic and social terms? These questions will be taken up in the following blog series. The first blog refers to the African response to the Russian aggression.

Biographical Note

Ulf Engel (SFB 1199, Leipzig University, Germany)

Trained as a political scientist, Ulf Engel is a professor at the Institute of African Studies in Leipzig. He is the director of the DFG-funded PhD Research Training Programme (GK 1261): “Critical Junctures of Globalization” (2006–2016), the co-director of the DFG Priority Programme (SPP 1448): “Adaptation and Creativity in Africa” (2011–2017), and the director of the Integrated Research Training Group of the DFG Collaborative Research Centre (SFB 1199): “Processes of Spatialization under the Global Condition”. Engel is also a visiting professor at the Institute for Peace and Security Studies at Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia), a professor extraordinary in the Department of Political Science at Stellenbosch University, and a fellow at the Stellenbosch Institute of Advanced Studies (STIAS, South Africa).