BEYOND THE UK ELECTIONS THE CASE FOR SELECTIVE DIPLOMACY BY EDWARD WANYONYI
BEYOND THE UK ELECTIONS THE CASE FOR SELECTIVE DIPLOMACY BY EDWARD WANYONYI
The recent British Elections that saw the Conservative Party garner a majority have opened a new phase in British politics and the UK’s role in global affairs. David Cameron seems to have ducked two bullets in his political life- the Scottish independence referendum and the 2015 General Election. However, after waves of heavy campaigning directed towards targeting voters, one thing that is clear is that elections do not guarantee their winner the autonomy of leadership but merely the chance to enter into a pact with the citizenry on how best to exercise leadership. Politics is not just a ‘vote me in, then sit back and I run the show’ scenario- it is now arguably more about ‘let us run the show together’. A more participatory approach is emerging as citizen awareness and ‘empowerment’ continues to increase with new education, information and communication ecosystems. One of the disadvantages of this interconnected age is the ability for global threats to spread through diverse networks and affect lands previously separated by distance. Ebola, ISIS and many other emerging threats have done this. It is precisely this interconnectedness and perhaps interdependence that will allow electoral outcomes to provide Britain with a new opportunity to rethink its place in the world and what its role should be in relation to the global peace and security agenda. Britain occupies a unique place in the global security architecture. Not only does it possess enormous military and diplomatic capital, experience and alliances but it is also a member of NATO and the United Nations Security Council. Furthermore, Britain is a significant actor within the global development and trade landscape through the G8 and its extensive multinational companies such as Barclays, Tesco, BP, Tullow Oil, GSK to name but a few. It is therefore the axis of North- South engagement and as such its contribution to global security needs to be produced, steered and supported by a robust government that is skilful not just in looking inwards at what is in the best interest for Britain alone but what is needed on an international level. Now that point of selective diplomacy is perhaps what splits Whitehall as it grapples with the legacy of the Global War on Terror, the 2009 financial markets meltdown and other emerging threats. To what extent then is peace and security in Africa going to feature during the next five years of British political discourse? Answering this question requires more than just delving into the colonial ties that the Commonwealth has for so long tried to maintain, as China, Japan and the EU sign new partnerships with regional economic communities or with individual African countries. It calls for a wider lens of understanding Africa-UK engagement that has moved from colonial master-aid recipient to a more fraternal engagement. This is evident when looking at the increasing number of foreign students studying at UK universities, which generates substantial revenue for the country and contributes to its multicultural richness and also in the health sector, where nurses from Botswana, Malawi, Sierra Leone and Tanzania are vital to the NHS system.
In the peace and security context, many African countries partner with the UK over issues such as counterterrorism and security sector reforms. Moreover, some of these countries host the burgeoning UK humanitarian agencies involved in various aid relief and post conflict reconstruction efforts. But the average Briton does not see nor notice this partnership. Instead, they still imagine that the UK-Africa relationship is one of donor dependency. And so an epistemological conundrum has been created partly by the UK media and NGO sector’s reporting of Africa’s peace and security context and the ambivalence of Whitehall. This conundrum is kept alive by clichés such as ‘helping Africa’, ‘intervening in Africa’ and ‘saving Africa’. Connected images are those of horror, war, sickness, poverty, and, most recently, of immigrants suffering and drowning as they attempt to cross to Europe. However, it is noteworthy that Africa’s emerging middle income countries and conflict-free societies provide enormous foreign direct investment opportunities for UK companies and the security challenges that emerge should not just to be seen through the rigid travel advisories that the FCO issues but also within a wider context of selective diplomacy. Selective diplomacy- the ability not just to look inwards at what benefits the country but to make constructive use of its place in the global sphere of influence, resources and military might is going to be tested in the next five years. Will the UK retreat as UKIP ferociously argued to a corner of ‘minding its own business’ in a turbulent world or will it advance and tackle the challenges head on as the Labour Party proposed? Will it stay on the path of dodging global responsibilities in the name of a ‘cautionary’ foreign policy or will it seize the moment and provide leadership especially within the UN Security Council at a time when global criminal networks seem to be behind resurgent conflicts? The time for the UN Security Council members to form a new global compact on peace and security and commit to a conflict-free planet is now. It cannot afford to procrastinate further despite apparent demands from those who benefit selfishly from war economies. Now is the time for the UK to apply selective diplomacy and make a case for a conflict free decade. The UK should lead efforts to restructure the UN Security Council, NATO, the EU and all global alliances to be able to pre-empt and stop conflicts from reaching the 1,000 deaths per day mark before they embark on producing paper bullets in the name of resolutions. Selective diplomacy does not mean that the UK leaves its homeland unguarded. It means that it skilfully uses all its military, diplomatic, commercial and strategic alliances and resources in order to push the world towards this new compact- a conflict-free decade and beyond. The writer is a Security, Leadership and Society Fellow at University of London-Kings College. He can be reached on edward.walekhwa@gmail.com