The geopolitics, government-business relations, and triangular cooperation of ‘Africa+1’ conferences

Abstract

Various countries have adopted Africa strategies and established high-level conferences with African nations over the past decades. We contribute to the interdisciplinary literature at the intersection of geopolitics and business by revealing the historical trajectory of government-business relations in the various Africa initiatives. We particularly aim to explore and compare how governments shape international business through their geopolitical initiatives. We conduct a qualitative analysis of 34 policy documents of the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation, the Tokyo International Conference on African Development, and the Türkiye-Africa Partnership conferences held between 1993 and 2022. Based on our longitudinal analysis, we find a complementarity of government-business relations: governments primarily act as facilitators and channelizers of business engagement, while firms are considered crucial enablers for government policies. We further discuss differences in the identified role and ownership of companies in the three Africa initiatives against the backdrop of the respective geopolitical agendas.