Reimagining Africa’s Role in the Emerging Multipolar World Order: Amani Africa’s Perspective
Tefesehet Hailu
Researcher, Amani Africa
Solomon Ayele Dersso, PhD
Founding Director, Amani Africa
In a rapidly changing global landscape, Africa finds itself at a pivotal moment, where the traditional hierarchical order is giving way to a more complex and dynamic multipolar world. This shift is reshaping Africa's visibility and influence on the international stage, as both old and new powers vie for its support and access to its resources. The African Union's admission to the Group of 20 (G20) and the growing number of African states in the BRICS are testament to Africa's rising profile. However, visibility alone does not guarantee influence or outcomes. The central challenge for Africa is to position itself as an active and influential player in the emerging multipolar world order, moving beyond its historical marginal status.
This question was at the heart of a two-day conference co-convened by Chatham House, Amani Africa, and UNDP, which brought together policymakers, scholars, and practitioners from across the continent. The discussions focused on how Africa can strengthen its agency through coherence, strategic partnerships, and leadership grounded in Pan-African values. A key metaphor used by Gedion Timotheos, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, in his keynote address, likened today's global order to the 'English Premier League' - unpredictable, competitive, and full of surprise victories. No longer a two-team league of superpowers or a one-club show, the world is increasingly multipolar, with many players vying for influence.
The conference's substantive segment, the panel on Power, Partnerships, and the Global Order, explored the contours of this changing landscape. Participants emphasized that Africa must move from being an arena of competition to a player of consequence. The continent's demographic vitality, resource wealth, demonstrated self-awareness, and historical moral vision position it to be a strategic actor, not merely a passive recipient of global shifts. However, agency requires more than awareness; it demands deliberate strategy and coordinated action rooted in principle.
A central idea that emerged was the reinterpretation of non-alignment. Instead of signaling just neutrality or indecision, it represents strategic independence whereby Africa partners with all actors based on its interests. Pan-Africanism, participants reminded, remains the philosophical compass guiding this endeavor. It is not merely a historical sentiment but a living principle, one that ties Africa's global engagement to solidarity, justice, and collective progress.
A second theme that resonated throughout the discussions was the need for coherence between Africa's national and continental institutions. While Africa is institutionally rich, it often struggles to harness that abundance into collective strength. Africa's effectiveness abroad begins with alignment at home. As Hannah Tetteh, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of UN Mission in Libya, noted, the first and critical level of alignment is between continental frameworks and policies and national-level politics and policies. Another level is between the AU and Regional Economic Communities/Mechanisms (RECs/RMs). The challenge here is not the absence of frameworks but the need for clarity in their division of labor, stronger accountability mechanisms, and above all, political will.
Several speakers emphasized that Africa's problem is not a deficit of policy frameworks and institutions but a deficit of implementation. The continent must transform existing commitments into concrete outcomes, bridging the gap between policy ambition and practice.
Financial autonomy was another issue that received particular attention. Despite its vast resources, Africa's financial dependency often constrains its political independence. Without self-sustaining financial mechanisms, even the most well-crafted strategies remain vulnerable to external pressures. One speaker noted that Africa's political liberation must now be matched by financial emancipation. This perspective reflects a growing consensus that Africa's agency begins to systematically weigh in global affairs and materially advance its interests when it takes leadership in financing its priorities, leveraging its vast natural resources, and pushing for a more just global tax regime.
Sustainable development and climate diplomacy represent the forward-looking frontier of Africa's agency. Discussions during the session on 'African Priorities in Sustainable Development, Climate Diplomacy, and Biodiversity' highlighted Africa's growing leadership in shaping global environmental governance. Through the two Africa Climate Summits and related initiatives, the continent is articulating a development model that integrates climate action with economic transformation, a 'climate-conscious growth' paradigm that links decarbonization with industrialization on the basis of the principle of just transition.
Participants also pointed to the crucial role of local and sub-national actors whose initiatives in renewable energy, waste management, and urban sustainability are driving meaningful change from the ground up. Their experiences illustrate how climate governance is most effective when it is both localized and inclusive.
At the global level, the discussions called for a unified African voice in negotiations on critical minerals, carbon markets, and climate finance. A unified negotiation position on critical minerals can be achieved through the establishment of a continental natural resource governance authority, as argued in a recent Amani Africa policy brief. Mechanisms such as the African Group of Negotiators and the African Green Mineral Strategy were identified as essential instruments for ensuring fair and transparent engagement with global markets.
Turning to the economic engines that must drive Africa's transformation, participants noted that despite mounting challenges, from debt distress to declining aid inflows, Africa's economic fundamentals remain promising. However, the path forward requires diversification, industrialization, and inclusive growth that empowers youth and micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) as architects of innovation and resilience.
The conversation also linked peace, governance, and prosperity as inseparable dimensions of Africa's progress. Economic growth cannot flourish in contexts of instability or exclusion. Sustainable peace and inclusive development are mutually reinforcing, the twin pillars of a resilient Africa. Building on this understanding, the reflection on African-led peace and security initiatives shifted the focus from abstract aspirations to the practical question of how Africa can exercise genuine ownership over its security and governance agenda.
On peace and security, the conversation underscored a necessary shift from reactive peacekeeping to proactive prevention and peacemaking. Financing emerged as a critical fault line, emphasizing the need for enhanced financial contribution from Africa while recognizing that international peace and security in Africa is a collective global responsibility that directly implicates the UN, which bears primary responsibility for international peace and security, including in Africa. The debate also highlighted that more than resources, what matters most for advancing Africa's leadership in peace and security is the provision of technical and strategic analytical leadership by the AU and its ability to mobilize a unified position and voice by its member states.
The two-day dialogue was not an end in itself but a catalyst, a moment to connect ideas with strategy, reflection with resolve. As Amani Africa's policy brief for the conference showed, the emerging multipolar world presents both opportunities and risks. Yet, this emerging order also offers space for Africa to assert its agency, but this demands coordination and foresight based on deliberate and well-thought-out strategy and foreign policy to avoid fragmentation and marginalization.
Across the sessions, a powerful consensus emerged: the era of aspiration and norm development has passed; this is the time of implementation and action. As the Chief of Staff of the AU Commission, Souef Moahmmed El-Amine, underscored, this is the moment to convert Africa's visibility into influence and its influence into outcomes that improve lives. This transition from symbolism to substance depends on Africa's ability to act in consistent unity grounded in solidarity. When its nations, regions, and institutions work in harmony, Africa's collective voice resonates more strongly in global forums. But disunity frustrates agency.
In the match of global politics, Africa can play the game, as evidenced in the policy brief released by Amani Africa. The question is whether it can play as a team and consistently. The continent has talented players, but talent without teamwork wins no championship. The task now is to train together, strategize together, and play for the same side, requiring coherence in policy, consistency in diplomacy, and commitment to collective action.
