Russia’s Soft Power in Africa: Potential and Challenges of Russian-speaking Women’s Communities

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The article refers to one of the integral parts of the of Russian soft power foreign policy, which lies in its interaction with the Russian-speaking women’s communities on the African continent. This topic has not previously been given an appropriate consideration in the domestic scientific discourse. The processes of current social and political transformations in the African countries require the significant increase in soft power, which could become the instrument of developing and consolidating relations between Russia and new African elites and African people. The Russian-speaking communities in Africa and organizations they create are largely composed of women and are developing thanks to their own initiatives. The potential of Russian-speaking women’s communities in Africa, as well as of associations of African graduates of Soviet/Russian educational institutions as prospective soft power providers is quite significant, yet seriously underestimated and untapped properly. Today a variety of associations, clubs, fraternities, unions comprised of Russian-speaking women is widely occurring in the majority of African countries. There are such associations in Zambia, Cameroon, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Nigeria, Uganda, Togo, Angola, Mauritius, Madagascar, Senegal, Nigeria, Rwanda, Mali, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Mozambique, and other countries. Russian-African mixed families are considered as the most probable potential mediators in Russian and African societies, cultures and markets. At the same time, the development of ties with the Russian-speaking diaspora in Africa would contribute not only to supporting the foreign policy activities of the Russian Federation on the continent, but also to the implementation of such important national priorities of our country as supporting compatriots abroad and promoting the “Russian world.” This acquires particular importance on the threshold of the second Russia - Africa summit in 2023.

作者简介

Natalia Krylova

Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences

编辑信件的主要联系方式.
Email: krylovanl@yandex.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-3788-0887

PhD, Dr. of Sc. (History), Chief Researcher, Centre for Sociological and Political Sciences Studies

Moscow, Russian Federation

Olga Kulkova

Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: kulkova-olga@yandex.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-3953-8938

PhD (History), Senior Research Fellow, Centre for the Study of the Russian-African Relations and African States’ Foreign Policy

Moscow, Russian Federation

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