Trump 2.0 and the dynamics of the US soft power in Africa

Abstract

The return of Donald Trump to the White House as the 47th president of the US (Trump 2.0) signals a sharp break in the institutionalized practices of US foreign policy. While scholars debate the implications of this shift on the US’s global soft power, this paper asks: how is the US soft power faring in Africa under the dynamic policies of Trump 2.0? The paper draws on Nye’s ingredients of soft power, as well as Afrobarometer, GeoPoll, and Gallup survey data, and unstructured case studies to analyse the dynamics of US soft power in Africa under Trump 2.0. To do this, we adopt elements of ‘education/cultural exchange,’ ‘foreign policy/aid,’ ‘public diplomacy,’ and political ideals such as ‘democracy,’ which are foundational to the US non-kinetic influence, as indicators to chart the trajectory of US soft power in Africa under Trump 2.0. The paper argues that the dynamics of Trump 2.0’s policies in the aforementioned categories may culminate in a significant decline of US soft power in Africa, especially in the face of competing and counterbalancing forces such as China and Russia. This article, therefore, provides a US soft power performance scorecard in Africa in the wake of Trump 2.0.