African soft power

MEMBERS of the African diaspora are connectors between Africa and the world, given the third space they occupy between both geographical spaces. They also add value through several brainsharing initiatives they engage in, which benefit Africa in ways that make a case for brain gain. Through their multiple affiliations, they give back to Africa, beyond their home countries.

The African diaspora refers to the dispersion of people of African descent throughout the world starting with the transatlantic slave trade, which forced the movement of millions of Africans to the Americas, Europe and other parts of the world. It also encompasses the voluntary migration and the more recent movement of people of African descent within and between different regions induced by conflict and economic hardship on the continent.

Although disparate, the African diaspora has grown to become a significant global force, with people of African descent living in nearly every corner of the world. Overall, they have had a profound impact on the cultural and social history of the world, as well as on the economic and political development of their host countries.

African diaspora communities have also formed distinctive cultural identities and traditions in music, art, literature, food, dress and other forms of cultural expression which attract admiration and goodwill from their host countries in ways that make them diaspora diplomats for their home countries.

In simple terms, Diaspora Diplomacy (DD) is the use of diaspora communities to promote a country's interests in the international arena. This involves engaging with members of a country's diaspora in a host country or country of residence to leverage their networks, skills and resources to achieve political, economic and social objectives to pursue the advancement of the home country or country of origin.

In an article on the subject of DD for The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, Jennifer Brinkerhoff noted that it encompassed diasporas as agents in their own right; instruments of other’s diplomatic agendas; and/or intentional or accidental partners with other actors pursuing shared interests. Therefore, DD is not territorially bound and agendas are fluid as they criss-cross several cross-cutting interests between the home and host countries.

Concisely, diasporas straddle five diplomacy objectives that have soft power implications for both their home and host countries: improving the image of their home countries; securing the support of their host countries for policies or interventions targeted at their home countries; influencing perceptions of their host countries within the home countries; facilitating material exchanges between the home and host countries; and supporting the settlement and integration of their compatriots in the home countries.

For Brinkerhoff, through the many cultural associations they form, diasporas proactively improve the image of their home countries in their host countries or internationally, given the presence of other diasporas in the country of residence. State and private-sector officials in the home country may also target them for this purpose.

Diasporas may also seek support for a policy or intervention from and by their host country targeted at the home country. Other scholars such as Thomas Ambrosio have argued this is an enduring feature of American foreign policy as it has historically leveraged diaspora communities in the US to get insights for its foreign policy engagements with their home countries.

For example, the Presidential Advisory

Council on African Diaspora established in December 2022 at the US-Africa Leaders Summit is an indicator of the Biden administration’s efforts to engage and embrace America’s African diaspora. Also, the African Union declaration of the African diaspora as the 6th region of the continent is also part of efforts to engage African diaspora communities and promote diaspora diplomacy.

Soft power generally refers to a state’s ability to influence others through attraction and persuasion rather than coercion or force, to “shape the preferences of other states through intangible assets such as an attractive personality, culture, political values and institutions and policies that are seen as legitimate or having moral authority”, as Joseph Nye puts it in his article for Foreign Policy magazine in 1990.

The African diaspora has become an increasingly important diplomatic and soft power tool for Africa. Many African countries have recognised the importance of engaging with their diaspora communities to promote their interests and increase their influence. This includes using the diaspora to attract investment, promote tourism, and advocate for policy changes in host countries.

Therefore, as diaspora diplomats, the foreign policy agency of the African diaspora is in the accumulation of soft power points for Africa. This realisation drove me to ask whether the African diaspora can be categorised as a soft power resource for the continent and that is how I started the project of mapping their influence, starting with NigerianAmericans in the US in 2021 and then South African-Australians in Australia in 2022.

I spent eight weeks in the US collecting data from Nigerian-Americans in the top four states – Texas, New York, Maryland and Georgia – where they are largely resident, and four weeks in Australia collecting preliminary data from South African Australians in Western Australia. Of note, both the Nigerian and South African diasporas are the largest African diaspora communities in the US and Australia respectively.

Broadly speaking, Nigeria’s soft power comes from attributes such as its cultural exports, Nollywood, music, dress, food and other indigenous products; its political and iconic personalities such as Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Fela Kuti, Chimamanda Adichie; sporting accomplishments; international peacekeeping and mediation role; delivery of public goods through agencies such as the Technical Aid Corps Scheme (TACS); and its Afrocentric foreign policy and strategy of good neighbourliness.

These soft power resources fall well within the three elemental scales of cultural attraction, political values and foreign policy espoused by Nye. The question I sought to answer was can the Nigerian diaspora be added to this list of soft power resources?

The targeted population of my study were Nigerian-Americans who are high achievers in the fields of science, medicine and engineering, music and film, literature and sports. These are individuals contributing to American progress and development, and, ipso facto, inadvertently contributing to Nigeria’s soft power credentials.

According to the American Community Survey of 2019, Nigeria is the largest source of African immigration to the US with approximately 376,000 Nigerian immigrants and their children making up the first and second generations. The results of a Rockefeller Foundation-Aspen Institute Diaspora Program (RAD) study of 15 immigrant communities in the US show the Nigerian diaspora is the most educated group in the country, with 61 per cent holding at least a bachelor’s degree compared with 31 per cent of the total foreign-born population and 32 per cent of the US-born population.

Also, Nigerian-Americans are substantially more likely than the general US population to be in the labour force and to work in professional or managerial occupations. They are also among professors in the highest ranked universities in every one of the cities I visited, including top doctors and nurses in the health sector.

Although there is the potential of Nigerian-Americans becoming foreign policy agents for both Nigeria and the US, they have not yet organised themselves enough to enter the US diplomatic agenda. Nigerian-Americans have not used their inbetween advantage for diaspora diplomacy, which can be noticed in close-knit and homogenous diaspora groups in the US such as the Jewish, Indian, Chinese and Irish communities.

In the case of Australia, although Africa has been at the margins of the country’s foreign policy thinking and practice, the African diaspora there has been instrumental in promoting African culture, heritage, and identity through various diplomatic and soft power initiatives. These initiatives have played a crucial role in enhancing the visibility and influence of African communities in Australia.

South Africa has the largest African migrant group in Australia, constituting 42 per cent and made up mostly of white South Africans. Non-white South Africans increasingly migrated to Australia between 2012 and 2022.

The preliminary results of a feasibility study of a broad spectrum of South Africans in Australia, which I undertook with my research partner, David Mickler of Curtin University in Perth, Australia, show in 2022 that the South African diaspora in Australia has achieved admirable accomplishments. The group is making significant contributions to Australia’s development across critical sectors of mining, agriculture, medicine, IT and higher education.

Many of them are captains of big business, vice chancellors and professors in Australian universities, which means beyond the economic contributions they make they also add ideational value to Australia through the education system. These evoke admiration and goodwill from Australians not only towards South Africans as a people but also towards the South African state. All 23 South Africans I interviewed across the country told me Australians see South Africans as very hardworking, goal-oriented and focused people.

Another related way in which the South African diaspora has exerted its soft power agency in Australia is through the establishment of community organisations and networks, which provide a platform for South Africans to connect with each other and promote their culture and values to the wider Australian society through various channels, including events, social media and community organisations. These organisations have the potential to evolve into ideational and political blocks that can influence Australian politics and foreign policy towards Africa in the same way the Chinese diaspora community does in Australia.

A good example of the South African diaspora's soft power agency in Australia is the annual South African Film Festival, which showcases the best of the country’s cinema. The festival has grown in popularity over the years, attracting a diverse range of people from different backgrounds and cultures.

The Nigerian diaspora in the US and the South African diaspora in Australia have in similar and varying ways been instrumental in promoting African culture, heritage, and identity through various diplomatic and soft power initiatives. These initiatives have not only enhanced the visibility and influence of African communities in both countries but have also contributed to the diversification of the cultural and economic landscape of the US and Australia.