Political trust and the politics of security engagement : China and the European Union in Africa / Benjamin Barton.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Barton, Benjamin, author.

Series:

Routledge studies on African politics and international relations

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Conflict management--Africa--International cooperation.

Conflict management.

Relations.

International cooperation.

Africa--Strategic aspects--International cooperation.

Africa.

China--Relations--Africa.

China.

Africa--Relations--China.

European Union countries--Relations--Africa.

European Union countries.

Africa--Relations--European Union countries.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xii, 211 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

London : Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2018.

Summary:

The EU and China are often characterised as parties whose bilateral political differences remain too large to bridge, so that they have failed to convert rhetorical promises into tangible results of cooperation, particularly with regards to the international security. Yet in terms of their bilateral interaction on security risk management in Africa; EU and Chinese naval officers jointly brought down the number of Somali pirate attacks in the Gulf of Aden and to a lesser extent were involved in seeking a resolution to the lingering conflict in Darfur. This book asks how we can make sense as a whole of this relatively sudden shift in regards to the dealings between their respective officials on the topic of security risk management. It argues that the outcomes of Sino-European bilateral dealings on are above all determined by the ability/inability of these officials to build political trust as a complex and cognitive social phenomenon. Consequently, the book applies an innovative conceptual framework on political trust to explain why EU and Chinese officials bridged their 'endemic' political differences to cooperate on Somali piracy but were unable to do so when it came to their interaction on Darfur. To conclude, it examines the longer term impact of this bilateral trust-building process by covering more recent examples of engagement in Libya and Mali and aims to show that although this trust-building process may be case specific, ramifications may go beyond the realm of their dealings on security matters in Africa, to impact wider issues of international security. This text will be of key interest to scholars and students of African and Chinese politics, EU politics, security and maritime studies, and more broadly of international relations and to governmental actors.--Publisher's summary.

Contents:

Contrasted approaches to security management

The concept of political trust in IR

The rise of China's security engagements in Africa

A paradigmatic change : China and the Darfur conflict

China's shift from the periphery to the heart of counter-piracy efforts in the Horn of Africa

Failing institutional memories : Libya and Mali

Cognitive-based trust as a research agenda.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781138917385

1138917389

9781315178745

1315178745

OCLC:

1007133051