Decolonial Perspectives on EU-Africa Relations

Decolonial perspectives on EU-Africa relations interrogate the enduring legacies of colonialism that shape political, economic and cultural interactions between Europe and the African continent. This approach challenges the predominance of Eurocentric narratives and seeks to reposition African voices, knowledge systems and interests at the heart of policy-making, partnership and scholarship. By critically examining asymmetries in power, resources and influence, decolonial scholarship exposes the ways in which aid, trade and security programmes may reproduce neocolonial dependencies and undermine genuine reciprocity. It emphasises the importance of decentring the EU’s normative frameworks—such as those relating to human rights, development paradigms and security strategies—and recentring African agency, epistemologies and priorities.

This field of inquiry draws on interdisciplinary methodologies, embracing post-structuralist and Third World Approaches to International Law insights, contrapuntal analysis and grounded empirical research. It highlights how historical injustices inform contemporary policy deficits and offers pathways for more equitable cooperation. Decolonial scholarship has influenced debates on the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy deployments, trade agreements and human rights negotiations, advocating for dialogue that recognises the mutual legitimacy of diverse legal and normative orders and advances a truly universal human rights corpus.

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Decolonial Perspectives on EU-Africa Relations publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in decolonial perspectives on eu-africa relations across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Decolonial perspectives: Analytical approaches that critically examine and seek to overcome the effects of colonial power structures in contemporary international relations.

Decentring: The process of shifting analytical and policy focus away from dominant European frameworks to foreground non-Western actors’ perspectives and agency.

African agency: The capacity of African states and societies to define and pursue their own political, economic and social objectives independently of external prescripts.

Neocolonialism: Persistent patterns of economic, political or cultural control reminiscent of colonial rule, maintained through unequal treaties, aid dependencies or security arrangements.

Contrapuntal reconstruction: A methodological tool that navigates dissonant narratives by juxtaposing and harmonising multiple viewpoints to achieve more inclusive policy outcomes.

Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL): A critical legal framework that highlights the perspectives of formerly colonised states and challenges Western-centric international legal norms.

References

1. From the “laboratory” to the “arena”: the EU’s quest for maturity and the instrumentalisation of conflict in Africa. European Security (2024).
2. Beyond the Heaven–Hell Binary and the One‐Way Traffic Paradigm: The European Union, Africa and Contested Human Rights in the Negotiations of the Samoa Agreement. JCMS Journal of Common Market Studies (2024).
3. How to Reflexively Decentre EU Foreign Policy: Dissonance and Contrapuntal Reconstruction in Migration, Religious and Neighbourhood Governance. JCMS Journal of Common Market Studies (2022).
4. When elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers: the Russo-Ukrainian conflict and the decentring-recentring conundrum in EU-Africa relations. Journal of European Integration (2023).