Discuss the major drivers of India’s interests in Africa.
How the answer moves
The flow snapshot — the routes in, the body, the counter-view and the routes out.
Route 1 policy born political: decolonisation, anti-apartheid solidarity, AFRICA Fund → drivers now generated at home
Route 2 Africa as an input into India’s own transformation → every major interest traces to a domestic need
energy first (Nigeria, Angola, Algeria vs Gulf dependence; Xavier — a third of African lines of credit, 2004-13, to energy) → search widens to critical minerals (Gurjit Singh — electric mobility, semiconductors, defence rest on cobalt/copper/manganese) → market (trade near $100 bn; Bhatia — 2030 target of $200 bn against a decade of sharp fluctuation) → security follows commerce (Xavier — East African coast inside India’s Indian Ocean interest: sea lanes, investment, diaspora; piracy → net security provider) → AIKEYME 2025 gives it operational form → diplomatic weight (50+ African votes on UNSC and WTO reform) → China competition in third spaces sets the pace
drivers do not convert on their own → Singh’s paradox: Indian-origin firms in African copper, cobalt, tantalum, output moves to China → fragmented engagement against an integrated state-backed system
Route 1 the drivers are Indian needs, which is itself the risk → Vaidyanathan: move beyond extraction-led engagement to co-developer
Route 2 interest matures into partnership only when African priorities count as drivers too
Model answer
Handwritten, in the form it would be written in the examination hall.
Also asked on this head
India and the Global South — 8 questions in the Vault.
- Discuss some of the key drivers of India’s new interests in Africa which might help in developing long-term comparative advantage over China.
- Discuss the potential role that India could play as the leader of the Global South in realising the goal of
- “Nothing is going to move within the WTO negotiations unless India is on board.’ Discuss the main reasons behind India’s increased clout in the WTO.
How this is taught
The same flow snapshot, built for every head of the syllabus, with the answer written in class.
The first session of Foundation 2027 is published in full.
Six programmes across three levels.