Resource Geopolitics and Domestic Power Bargains: How the 21st-Century Scramble for Africa Reshapes Security and Democratic Space.

Africa is emerging as a focal point for competition between major global players for strategic natural resources in an increasingly competitive world environment. However, unlike the colonial era extractive regimes, the contemporary competition for access to resources in Africa is taking place under a different set of rules, specifically, investment, security, diplomatic and political elite bargaining rather than the traditional colonial model of direct territorial control. In this article we examine how the global politics of resources are affecting domestic governance arrangements, security governance and democratic space across Africa. The research draws upon qualitative research methods including document-based analysis of policy documents, international agreements, elite speeches, and structured observation to argue that the external competition for access to energy, minerals and strategic resources is reinforcing patterns of authoritarian governance across African countries. Key global actors (including China, the U.S., EU, Russia, and GCC) prioritize supply chain security and their geopolitical position over the level of democratic accountability; therefore, they are undermining governance conditions which could have otherwise been placed on countries receiving large-scale investments from these global actors and increasing the dominant position of executives. The article demonstrates that the politics of resources are changing civil-military relations in ways which legitimize the use of securitization techniques to govern extraction regions in ways that limit political participation while maintaining the formal institutions of democratic government. Through its integration of neo-extractivist political economy with securitization theory, the research provides new knowledge in the field of international relations by demonstrating the linkages between global structural competition for resources and the strategies of regime survival employed by governments. The results contradict liberal assumptions regarding the relationship between the integration of resources and institutional development and demonstrate how global demand for resources leads to the embedding of illiberal governance within state security architectures. Ultimately, the research concludes that without the establishment of a coordinated regional approach to managing the implications of Africa's strategic integration into the global political economy, the likelihood of entrenching illiberal security states will be significantly increased while the potential for democratic development will be diminished.