EGIC organised the conference “Global Africa: power politics on the continent”, held on the 18th of July at EGIC HQ (Via Gregoriana 12, Rome).

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From a multi-colonial to an afro-liberalist dimension, passing through the post colonial period to untie from his recent past, Africa is now "the continent of the future", which means that the global powers, including Russia, India, China, the US and Europe have their eyes set on being influential political player in the African continent. While the role of the Western powers and that of China has received some attention, with some misconceptions, the role of Russia has gone largely undetected. Moscow’s relations with African states gained momentum in the Cold War years, when African countries intent on de-colonization received great diplomatic, economic and military support from the Soviet Union. After the Soviet collapse in 1991, Russia only recently decided to explore options for a strengthened role in the continent, a role that is vital to explore in the context of changing geopolitics at the global level. And then, exactly, what is the role of the former colonizers, the United Kingdom, France and the United States? Could there be an Italian role as well?

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To address this topic, the Euro-Gulf Information Centre invited Natalia Piskunova (Senior Lecturer, Faculty of World Politics, Moscow State University,  Senior Fellow at EGIC) and Andrea Spinelli Barrile (Journalist with in-depth experience in and on Africa, co-founder of Slow News and Head of Communication at Italia Africa Business Week).