Africa and the Ukraine Crisis: Exploring Attitudes

Abstract

The authors present a coordinate system to map the international reaction to the Ukraine crisis, with special attention to African states. Methods of cluster, correlation, and regression analyses are used to obtain an overall picture of the international reaction to the crisis over time and highlight factors that can influence the positions of states. The positions of African states cannot be easily explained by material factors but are rather the consequence of political choice. African states gravitate towards a neutral position to stay equidistant from both sides in the confrontation. Assertive attempts by the great powers to persuade African states to solidarize with their positions may prove abortive.