German Institute for Global and Area Studies | Leibniz-Institut für Globale und Regionale Studien

German Institute for Global and Area Studies | Leibniz-Institut für Globale und Regionale Studien

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Explaining Middle-Power Engagement in External Regions: A Comparison of Iranian, Saudi, and Turkish Sub-Saharan Africa Policies

  • By means of a comparative historical analysis of Iranian, Saudi-Arabian, and Turkish engagement in Africa following the continent’s decolonization processes and running up until 2020, this project seeks to make sense of middle-power engagement in external regions. First, the project will identify the periods of shifting IST engagement in Africa. Second, it will analyze the reasons why, and the conditions under which, IST have stepped up—or reduced—their foreign policy efforts in Africa. Third, it will develop mid-range generalizations on middle-power engagement in external regions.
    DFG, 2022-2025

    Team

    Mira Demirdirek

    Doctoral Researcher

    Hamid Talebian

    Doctoral Researcher

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    Research Questions

    By means of a comparative historical analysis of IST engagement in sub-Saharan Africa following the continent’s decolonization processes after World War II and running up until the end of 2020, this project seeks to make sense of middle-power engagement in external regions. It focuses on three objectives to this end: First, the project will identify—and define—the periods of shifting IST engagement in Africa in the chosen era. Second, it will analyze the reasons why, and the conditions under which, IST have stepped up—or reduced—their foreign policy efforts in Africa. Third and finally, it will develop mid-range generalizations on middle-power engagement in external regions, ones which can subsequently be applied to cases elsewhere.

    Contribution to International Research

    Why do middle powers engage in external regions? Although regions have become defining elements of international politics, and despite middle powers now being considered key actors in today’s multipolar international system, extant theoretical studies on middle powers offer only limited and inconsistent answers as to why they embark on comprehensive strategic foreign policies toward a given external region or, contrariwise, choose to significantly downgrade their foreign policy endeavors. There is thus a notable research gap on a topic that has gained greatly in importance of late, and one that comes with significant real-world implications.

    Research Design and Methods

    To achieve these objectives, the research team will first analyze quantitative and qualitative data to gauge the values for the three indicators selected to detect the periods of shifting IST engagement in Africa: diplomatic activities; endeavors in selected policy areas, including security, economic, cultural, and aid relations; and, security strategies related to Africa. Based on the so-established periodization, we will then analyze the reasons and conditions for any increased IST engagement. We will do so by focusing on two periods of heightened engagement in one African subregion for each IST state, including three years preceding and three years succeeding the respective time periods. Using the method of structured, focused comparison in combination with process tracing, we will contrast the periods of heightened IST engagement within and between cases. Importantly, this comparative analysis will be conducted along, and geared toward assessing, three sets of assumptions derived from the theoretical literature, and conveniently grouped into three categories: domestic, systemic, and status factors driving middle-power engagement. Toward the end of the project, these assumptions—whose explanatory power will have been tested and revised over the course of this exploratory study—will be further systemized and made applicable to other cases elsewhere.

    Project Publications

    GIGA Focus Middle East | 6/2024

    Non-State Actors and Autocratic Public Diplomacy: A Transregional View

    Public diplomacy looms large in the foreign policies of Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey. Zooming in on these states’ engagement with the African continent, this GIGA Focus Middle East explores the role played by real and alleged non-state actors in autocratic public-diplomacy efforts.

    Dr. Jens Heibach

    Mira Demirdirek

    Hamid Talebian

    Global Policy | 09/2024

    The Benefits of Neutrality: Saudi Foreign Policy in the Wake of the Ukraine War

    This article assesses Saudi Arabia's ambivalent response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In concluding, the implications of the Kingdom's stance on the war for future global order-making are discussed.

    Dr. Jens Heibach

    Research Fellow

    GIGA Focus Africa | 2/2024

    Peaceful or Contentious? How to Promote Interreligious Peace in Africa

    In African societies, celebrations of religious diversity exist alongside (violent) religious extremism. What determines whether interreligious relations are peaceful or contentious? What can we learn from positive examples, and what role does religious extremism play in interreligious peace?

    Hervé Akinocho

    Dr. Lisa Hoffmann

    Julia Köbrich

    GIGA Focus Middle East | 1/2024

    Ten Things to Watch in the Middle East and North Africa in 2024

    From the Gaza War to other regional conflicts and the lasting importance of oil, the Middle East and North Africa region remains pivotal for Europe. We present ten issues that will play a central role in the relationship between both regions in the year ahead.

    Prof. Dr. Eckart Woertz

    Director of the GIGA Institute for Middle East Studies / Editor GIGA Focus Middle East

    Olena Osypenkova

    Doctoral Researcher

    Chapter in Edited Volume | 2024

    Beyond the Soft–Hard Power Binary: Resource Control in Turkey's Foreign Policy Towards Sub-Saharan Africa

    Using the case of Turkey’s Africa policy, this article argues for adopting a process-oriented approach to analysing the foreign policies of (autocratising) states by focusing on the foreign policy situations in which they mobilize power resources; and the extent to which they attempt to gain control over societal power resources.

    Dr. Hakkı Taş

    Research Fellow

    Dr. Jens Heibach

    Research Fellow

    Related Content

    La visite du Premier ministre du Niger, Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, en Iran: surmonter les sanctions et chercher des alliés

    Radio France Internationale (RFI) | Interview | 27/01/2024

    La visite du Premier ministre du Niger, Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, en Iran: surmonter les sanctions et chercher des alliés

    Hamid Talebian

    Doctoral Researcher

    Au Sahel, l’Iran en pleine offensive diplomatique

    Le Monde Afrique | Interview | 09/01/2024

    Au Sahel, l’Iran en pleine offensive diplomatique

    Hamid Talebian explains that recent Iranian outreach to the Sahel is driven by building anti-Western alliances with countries that are increasingly moving away from the 'West'.

    Hamid Talebian

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    Opening Pandora's Box? The Cyprus Crisis and the Changing Role of Africa in Turkey's Foreign Policy

    Conference | 21/09/2023 - 23/09/2023

    Opening Pandora's Box? The Cyprus Crisis and the Changing Role of Africa in Turkey's Foreign Policy

    29th International DAVO Congress, Universität Wien, Vienna Organisers: German Middle East Studies Association for Contemporary Research and Documentation Mira Demirdirek (Speaker)

    Mira Demirdirek

    Doctoral Researcher

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