Understanding Soft Power in Africa: The Power of Attraction from Pretoria to Beijing

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Oluwaseun Tella

Understanding Soft Power in Africa

The Power of Attraction from Pretoria to Beijing

Oluwaseun Tella

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English

Routledge
21 October 2025

Regional studies; Communication studies; Popular culture; Sociology; Comparative politics

Series: Global Africa

Negative images of Africa, which define the continent as being riven with poverty, crime, or war, are increasingly being challenged. Examples of soft power, such as Nigeria’s Nollywood, athletic successes in Kenya, Rwanda’s commercial diplomacy, and South Africa’s liberal constitution, are all reasserting African agency and shaping more positive understandings of the continent.

This book considers the role and impact of soft power in the African context and how it relates to the 21st century scramble for Africa. Bringing together leading scholars in the field, this book delves into various aspects of soft power in Africa, shedding light on how the continent’s attractiveness is shaped by soft power in the continent’s biggest states, the small states, and also the regional organisations, such as the African Union (AU), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Southern African Development Community (SADC), and East African Community (EAC). The book then goes on to assess the ways in which great powers, most notably China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Brazil, and France, are themselves deploying soft power in Africa in order to vie for influence, resources, and strategic advantages.

Understanding Soft Power in Africa will be an important read for researchers in political science, international relations, African studies, and cultural studies, as well as for African policymakers.

By: Oluwaseun Tella
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm,
Weight: 770g
ISBN: 9781032949246
ISBN 10: 1032949244
Series: Global Africa
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 21 October 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Part I: Introduction 1. Soft Power in Africa: Assessing the Power of Attraction from Pretoria to Beijing Part II: African Regional Powers’ Soft Power 2. Nigeria’s Soft Power: Historical Development and Contemporary 3. Ubuntu reconsidered? The rise and decline of South Africa’s soft power 4. From Nasser to the Present: The Evolution of Egypt's Soft Power in Africa 5. Kenyan Soft Power: An Untapped Bag of Mixed Fortunes 6. Seeing beyond Africa’s Image Crisis: Sports and the Arts as Drivers of Cameroon’s Soft Power Part III: African Small States’ Soft Power 7. Beyond the Genocide Guilt Card: Understanding Rwandan Soft Power 8. Assessing the Soft Power Strategies of African Small Island Developing States: The Case of Mauritius 9. Wielding Soft Power? Botswana’s Foreign Policy in Africa and Beyond 10. In the Sea of Global Relations, is Seychelles Softly Surfacing? Part IV: African Regional Organisations’ Soft Power 11. African Union’s Soft Power on the International Stage 12. Eliciting Compliance with ECOWAS’s Normative Frameworks as an Expression of Soft Power 13. SADC: The Long Retreat from the Promise of Soft Power 14. The EAC and the Soft Power of Eastafricaness: Does it Have Limits? 15. The Paradox of African RECs' Soft Power: Promise vs. Inertia in the Restive AMU Part V: External Actors’ Soft Power in Africa 16. US Soft Power in Africa: A Study in Soft Empowerment 17. ‘Good Friends, Good Partners, Good Brothers’? Success and Failure in China’s Soft Power Strategy Towards Kenya 18. Africa and the United Kingdom: Influence and Soft Power 19. Russia in Africa: Understanding the Persistence of Soft Power 20. Soft Power in Crisis: France's Struggles for Influence in Africa 21. Building Soft Power Across the Atlantic: Unpacking Brazil-Africa Engagements 22. From Bollywood to Diplomacy: India's Soft Power Strategies in Africa

Oluwaseun Tella is the Head of the Future of Diplomacy at the University of Johannesburg’s Institute for the Future of Knowledge in South Africa. He holds a doctorate in political science from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. He has authored and edited eight books, including Africa’s Soft Power: Philosophies, Political Values, Foreign Policies, and Cultural Exports (Routledge, 2021), which is the first book on African soft power. In addition, he has published over 40 mostly single-authored book chapters and journal articles in Politikon, Social Dynamics, Journal of Asian and African Studies, Journal of Black Studies, and other academic journals. He has also written approximately 30 op-eds. His research interests encompass soft power, international relations, peace and conflict studies, African politics, and knowledge production in Africa.

Reviews for Understanding Soft Power in Africa: The Power of Attraction from Pretoria to Beijing

""For too long, superpowers have dominated the analysis and practice of soft power diplomacy. Building on Oluwaseun Tella’s path-breaking work, Africa’s Soft Power, this volume challenges that dominance by amplifying African voices and perspectives in soft power discourse. Tella and his colleagues not only highlight Africa’s agency in shaping global influence but also demonstrate that attraction and influence — the core objectives of soft power diplomacy — are reciprocal and mutually reinforcing, rather than the exclusive domain of superpowers."" Eghosa E. Osaghae, Director-General, Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Lagos, Nigeria. ""This books offers a wide-ranging account of the soft power of Africa, not just of specific nations on the continent, but also the soft power of external nations within Africa as well as the soft power of greater international bodies that impact on Africa. Africa has long been a neglected continent, both among western and eastern states, as well as among scholars. In the present polycrisis facing our world, we need to embrace the greater potential for solutions within the avenue of soft power, and also to expand our attention to the heretofore neglected continent."" Giulio Gallarotti, Professor of Government at Wesleyan University, Connecticut, and Adjunct Professor of Political Science at Columbia University, New York, United States. ""Building seamlessly on Oluwaseun Tella’s earlier groundbreaking study on soft power, this book is a tour de force in examining the theory and practice of attraction in Africa. Its strength lies in its bold exploration of the nuances of soft power, analyzing Africa’s regional powers, small yet influential states, regional organizations, and key global actors. Offering a comprehensive and insightful perspective, it provides a compelling read on soft power in an evolving global diplomatic landscape."" Peter Kagwanja, President and Chief Executive, Africa Policy Institute, Nairobi, and Adjunct Professor of Diplomacy and International Studies, University of Nairobi, Kenya.