US Foreign Policy toward Africa: A contextual analysis of interventions, partnerships, and the role of Congress, 1989 to 2015

This thesis attempts to analyze the US foreign policy towards Africa between 1989 and 2015. This period marks the end of the Cold War which has been experienced from 1945 to 1989. It is worth noting that before the Cold War period, with spectacular events in the international arena such as the scramble and partition of Africa and earlier the international slave trade, the US did not have direct foreign policy towards Africa. The US did not participate in the partition of Africa however the American citizens of African origin were concerned and protested the aim of European powers in colonizing Africa.This signaled the race factor in the US foreign policy making towards Africa. During the Cold War period, the US sacrificed the foreign policy on promotion of democracy and human rights in Africa in order to block the spread of communism in Africa by the former Soviet Union. At the end of Cold War, the US embarked on serious bilateral and multilateral engagement with African nations. This thesis has analyzed the interventionist and partnership basis of US foreign policy towards African nations; and the role of the Congress in the policy decision-making process. Kenyan nation in the globalized world has had the experience of the interventionist US policy and the underlying element of public diplomacy under the aegis of intervention by the US government to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS. As well Kenya has established a strong trade partnership under the banner of AGOA, a trade policy by the United States towards African nations. An illustration of textile manufacturing industry in Kenya dubbed Export Processing Zones is a success story of trade partnership between the US and Kenyan governments.