British Africa policy after Labour: Coalition, austerity, continuity and change

这一系列将是第一次系统地研究工党努力改变英国非洲政策和关系（1997-2010年）的遗产，探讨这一时期和当前联合政府之间的（不）连续性。与来自不同学科的领先学者和政策界的合作伙伴，包括查塔姆众议院，公共政策研究所和非洲所有党派议会小组合作，我们将提供对当代非洲政策的第一次深入研究，分析英国非洲关系如何在金融紧缩的背景下管理，呈现和合理化，联合政府和加强公众监督所造成的围栏援助预算，同时大幅削减英国的公共开支。非洲往往被视为边缘的英国利益，但它占据了一个特殊的地位，在历史上，外交政策，英国的自我形象和公众想象。在冷战期间，非洲国家经常是超级大国及其盟友的战场，但苏联的解体和两极世界秩序为国际社会与非洲国家的新形式接触创造了空间，这种接触基于对非洲挑战性质的不同假设以及国际行动者解决这些挑战的作用和战略。在英国，工党政府（1997-2010年）抓住了重新定义与非洲关系并应对贫困、不发达、长期冲突和国际边缘化挑战的机会。工党经常利用非洲大陆的高度抽象形象，将非洲作为英国特别感兴趣的地区。英国首相托尼·布莱尔认为，国际社会必须援助非洲，这反映了基于共同人性的道德义务，以及非洲的不发达和不安全与世界其他地区的安全之间的联系。工党领导下的非洲成为国家利益和国家安全的问题，工党试图改变英国的国内非洲政策和国际非洲政策。他们设立了一个部，即国际发展部，并推动国际发展部、外交和联邦事务部以及国防部对非洲采取联合行动。在国际上，他们推动发展目标、援助目标、债务减免和建设非洲管理冲突的能力。然而，追求“道德外交政策”的主张在“向非洲提供武器”的丑闻中失败了，一些人认为新的言论掩盖了“一切照旧”。尽管如此，在工党第二任期结束时，英国因其对非洲的关注而在国际上享有声誉;当联合政府在2010年掌权时，它继承了与1997年不同的非洲关系。在国内，它得到了新的工作方式和英国国际发展部的支持，但由于金融危机和英国削减开支的需要而变得复杂。在国际上，英国试图改变对非洲的态度也受到了崛起大国的挑战（例如中国和印度）。提供当代英国非洲政策的深入和专题研究，该系列将参与政策和英国和国际奖学金的持续辩论，特别是在欧洲和非洲，跨越政治，发展，政治经济，国际关系，历史和区域研究。与我们的非学术合作伙伴密切合作，我们将在这些领域形成一个新的学者网络，优先考虑早期职业研究人员作为演讲者和参与者。该系列将有助于正在进行的和新出现的辩论与政策相关性，主要集中在：英国与非洲的关系;外交政策的作用，特别是对非洲，在英国的自我形象;英国公众对非洲和发展的态度;非洲机构在影响英国政策;和英国在不断变化的全球背景下的作用，其特点是金融紧缩和非洲和全球新演员的崛起。

This series will be the first to systematically examine the legacy of Labour's efforts to transform British Africa policy and relations (1997-2010), exploring (dis)continuities between this period and the current coalition government. Working with leading scholars from across disciplines and partners in the policy community, including Chatham House, Institute for Public Policy Research and the All Party Parliamentary Group on Africa, we will provide the first in depth examination of contemporary Africa policy, analysing how UK Africa relations are managed, presented and justified in a context of financial austerity, coalition government and the increased public scrutiny resulting from ring-fencing aid budgets whilst making deep cuts to UK public spending.Africa is often seen as marginal to UK interests, yet it occupies a special place in the history, foreign policy, self-image and public imagination of the UK. During the Cold War African states were often battlegrounds for superpowers and their allies, but the collapse of the Soviet Union and the bipolar world order created space for new forms of international engagement with African states, based on different assumptions about the nature of Africa's challenges and the role and strategies of international actors to resolve them. In the UK, the opportunity to redefine relations with Africa and tackle challenges of poverty, underdevelopment, chronic conflict and international marginalisation, was taken up by Labour Governments (1997-2010). Often drawing on highly abstract images of the continent, Labour presented Africa as an area of special UK interest. Prime Minister Tony Blair argued the international community must assist Africa, reflecting moral obligation based on shared humanity and, in a new addition, links between underdevelopment and insecurity in Africa and security elsewhere in the world. Africa under Labour became a matter of national interest and national security.Labour sought to transform UK Africa policy domestically and approaches to Africa internationally. They created a ministry, the Department for International Development (DFID), and promoted a joined up approach to Africa across DFID, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Ministry of Defence. Internationally, they pushed for development goals, aid targets, debt relief, and building African capacity to manage conflict. The claim to be pursuing an 'ethical foreign policy' foundered however on the 'arms to Africa' scandal, and some argued that new rhetoric masked 'business as usual'. Nevertheless by the end of Labour's second term the UK had developed an international reputation for its focus on Africa; when the coalition government took power in 2010 it inherited a different relationship with Africa to that of 1997. Domestically it was underpinned by new ways of working and the role of DFID, but complicated by financial crisis and need for UK spending cuts. Internationally, UK attempts to establish a shift in approaches to Africa have also been challenged by rising powers (e.g. China and India).Providing in depth and thematic examination of contemporary British Africa policy, the series will engage with ongoing debates in policy and in UK and international scholarship, particularly in Europe and Africa, crossing Politics, Development, Political Economy, International Relations, History and Area Studies. Working closely with our non academic partners we will form a new network of scholars across these areas, prioritising early career researchers as speakers and participants. The series will contribute to ongoing and emerging debates with policy relevance, primarily focusing on: UK relationships with Africa; the role of foreign policy, especially on Africa, in UK self image; UK public attitudes to Africa and development; African agency in influencing UK policy; and the role of the UK in a changing global context, characterised by financial austerity and the rise of new actors in Africa and globally.