Africa Needs More American Involvement—Not Less

Commentary by Judd Devermont

Published July 3, 2024

This commentary was originally published in Foreign Affairs on June 27, 2024.

Sub-Saharan Africa is facing headwinds it hasn't experienced in more than 30 years. Since 2020, the region has been buffeted by coups, conflicts, and crises, with nine military takeovers in the past five years, more than the total number of coups d'état in the region between 2010 and 2020. In 2023, the region had the highest number of state-based conflicts (28) in the world and accounted for nearly half of all internally displaced people (34.8 million) worldwide. Governments are trampling on democratic norms-manipulating election results in Zimbabwe (2023), jettisoning term limits in Togo (2024), and postponing elections in Senegal (2024). The junta in Mali kicked out United Nations peacekeepers last December. The one in Niger expelled U.S. forces in March. Russia subsequently expanded its footprint in both countries.

The current level of upheaval in Africa is staggering but not unprecedented. It recalls another period of turmoil and volatility on the continent in the early 1990s. Then, as now, the old international system was unraveling while a new world order remained unformed. Geopolitical shifts, such as the rejection of international norms and the rise of new major and middle powers, have rendered sub-Saharan Africa more susceptible to internal mischief and external manipulation.

But a painful moment of transition need not calcify into a permanent state. Under the administrations of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, the United States invested heavily in African leadership and capacity, invigorated U.S. development and trade initiatives, and leveraged presidential engagement to counter the forces of disorder.

Read the full article in Foreign Affairshere.

Judd Devermont is a senior adviser (non-resident) with the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.

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