Joe Biden’s administration has committed to transforming America’s relationships across the globe. This period of reform presents the opportunity for a long-overdue reimagination of America’s policy in Sub-Saharan Africa. In this Strategic Update, Rebecca Rattner and Bjorn Whitmore argue a successful new relationship between America and Sub-Saharan Africa must rely on genuine partnership, support to local actors, and strong regional institutions. Their piece considers how to apply these principles in practice by examining the nuanced socio-political realities in East, West, Central, and Southern Africa.
Read the online edition:
President Biden's Africa Policy
Download the PDF:
President Biden's Africa Policy
This was published on Thursday 13 May 2021.
About the authors
Rebecca Rattner is a fellow at the South African Institute for Advanced Constitutional Law and the Southern Africa Litigation Centre. Her work focuses on international law and rights protection in armed conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa. She previously served as a law clerk to Justice Johan Froneman of the Constitutional Court of South Africa and Judge Theodor Meron, then President, of the UN Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals. She holds an MSc in Human Rights from LSE and a JD from Harvard Law School.
Bjorn Whitmore is a Master's candidate in International Affairs at the Paris School of International Affairs. His research focuses on the relationship between Europe and sub-Saharan Africa in the fields of humanitarianism and migration. He has previously advised NGOs and spearheaded research on civil society and local government across sub-Saharan Africa.