The Role of the American Variable in Shaping the Orientations of Russian Foreign Policy Toward West and Central Africa after 2014

Abstract

The United States of America ranks high in terms of influence on the Russian foreign policy towards Africa due to the ongoing geopolitical competition between the two giants on the continent. One of the strange paradoxes here is that the collapse of French military operations in West Africa paved the way for Russian expansion instead of securing Western superiority. After the 2021 Mali coup, Russian private military companies rapidly made their way into the bases vacated by France.

This paper examines why Russia has gained influence in West and Central Africa despite American military and economic superiority. It argues that the United States faces a dilemma that has roots in competing visions of partnership. According to American policymakers, as mentioned in the 2022 National Defense Strategy, Russia stands as the primary geopolitical threat on the continent; yet, this framework overlooks that Russia did not create the vacuum it now occupies but rather filled the vacuum left by the West.

The key distinction is that the United States offers conditional assistance based on democratic reform and transparency of institutions while Russia offers nothing for democracy and transparency. This is a model of stability, in which governance is needed to be restructured (Kaya, 2011, p. 36). Russia provides military assistance on a nonpolitical basis. African countries with urgent security challenges have not been able to leverage the technical military superiority into geopolitical influence because they focus on the short-term rather than long-term institutional development.