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APSACO 9th Edition - Owning the Story: Africa’s Strategic Agency in the Geopolitics of Ideas

June 19, 2025
Related topics: 
Security & Defense
International Relations
Geopolitics
Africa

Narratives are not neutral, they shape how power, legitimacy, and agency are distributed in international relations. For decades, Africa has been subject to external framings that have often constrained its diplomatic and intellectual space. In an era marked by contested global norms and ideological pluralism, can Africa move from being narrated to narrating? What tools, institutions, and strategies are available to assert a sovereign and credible African voice in global affairs? This panel will examine Africa’s capacity to shape geopolitical narratives by reinforcing its epistemic sovereignty and reclaiming its space in international discursive arenas. It will explore how think tanks, academic institutions, diplomatic actors, and civil society contribute to building African perspectives capable of influencing global debates, from multilateral governance to peace and development. The discussion will also assess the barriers that continue to marginalize African voices, and the conditions under which the continent can consolidate narrative influence as a form of strategic power.

Speakers
Karim El Aynaoui
Executive President
Karim El Aynaoui is Executive President of the Policy Center for the New South. He is also Executive Vice-President of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University and Dean of its Humanities, Economics and Social Sciences Cluster. From 2005 to 2012, he worked at the Central Bank of Morocco (Bank Al-Maghrib) as Director of Economics, Statistics, and International Relations. He also created and headed the Research Department and served as a member of the Governor’s Cabinet. Previously, he worked for eight years at the World Bank as an economist for its regional units of the Middle East and North Africa and Africa. Karim El Aynaoui has published books and journal articles on macroeconomic issues in developing countries. He has co-authored works on growth and the labor market in M ...

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