Professor Funmi Olonisakin says that there are transformative things that are occurring in the world for good or bad, but they hold such significance for the African continent.
Olonisakin, who is a Professor of Security, Leadership and Development at King’s College London, delivered the keynote address at the Thabo Mbeki African School of Public and International Affairs public lecture at Unisa on Monday on the topic “The Global (Dis)Order And its Impact on Africa”.
Olonisakin said that having this conversation in this moment in time becomes of fundamental importance.
She said that it is important to situate the notion of order and disorder.
“Order and disorder are two paradoxical words that have become some of the most recurring in recent global discussions, with the latter, ironically underlining the changes being introduced by the former.”
She said for Africa, the continent is almost always on the receiving end of global disorder.
The ramifications of global order and disorder have been significant with some of this underscoring the underlined politics.
Olonisakin said that in the last few years, we have seen major indications of disruptions in the global order.
She said the world which was largely dominated by the United States for several years has now become tripolar in some sense. She said that we could argue that Russia and China are becoming major global actors.
Talking about the crisis in Syria, Yemen, Iran nuclear crisis, North Korea and the Russia-Ukraine war, which have demonstrated this, she also mentioned internal developments which brought about changes that were unimaginable such as Brexit, adding that we are in a world with so much going on, with so much ramifications not just in the international space, but for the African continent in particular.
Olonisakin posed a few questions in relation to the global order and asked: Who’s order is it and what does it have to do with Africa? Where is Africa located in all of this? How much change or continuity is there, and lastly, what really needs to change for Africa. Where does that opportunity for change lie?
She added that Africa might learn something from the various approaches that has undermined the continent for decades in terms of how global actors exercise protectionist principles, and also in terms of the organising formula.
Africa might learn a thing or two from the very actions that have undermined the continent for decades.
She said that the United States has played a dominant role since the end of the First World War, but said the US has not always been a willing hegemony.
The United States has been essential in creating institutions, anchoring alliances and providing public goods.
“What we see today in the form of the United Nations still rests on the various institutions that was helped into being by the United States.“
She said that there were two things that underscored the creation of the United Nations at the time, the undermining of those very norms has become one of the biggest markers of the decline of the liberal order.
Firstly, the idea that we would outlaw crimes against humanity, and secondly, the idea that we condemn or render illegal a war by aggression.
“Those things have come to pass, in several ways.“
She added that it is also the case that powerful actors have emerged at various moments, so called, “illiberal actors” or that these actors have emerged to challenge the liberal order. The east/west rivalry that ensued for decades and today the emerging east/west competition are all evidence of this.
The emergence of power illiberal actors can render the so called liberal order quite fragile.
She added that we’ve seen how the collapse of the Soviet Union led to the euphoric cries of the triumph and emergence of the liberal of the liberal order.
The elements of a dominant liberal order were idealogical, underpinned by democratic norms, economical ideology, underpinned by liberal economics, and the notion of institutions, all of this was sealed by a global hegemony that provided global security cover.
There is little doubt that the post-1945 world order may be experiencing its last gap and we are in a transitional moment for sure, she added.
Olonisakin said that it is important that we are clear about the events that triggered this change in order.
She adds that the rise of China became more prominent from that moment onwards. That rise is no longer contested.
The Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation marked a clear moment in which the dismantling of the only remaining norm that underpin the United Nations began.
You can watch the full lecture here.