First Independent Mena Newspaper
Morocco outperformed the rest of the Maghreb ranking first in the Global Soft Power index 2023, underscoring the country’s efforts to polish its image and expand its influence globally. Soft power refers to a nation’s ability to influence others through non-coercive means, such as culture, values, and foreign policy. Morocco jumped four places taking the […]
Three Chinese astronauts, known as ‘taikonauts’, recently spoke to students from eight African countries via video link during an event hosted by the China Mission to the African Union (AU), highlighting the increasing collaboration in space between China and African nations who aspire to develop their own ambitions in the next frontier. The Forum on […]
Morocco is reaping the diplomatic benefits of its south-south cooperation approach and multi-layered African policy capitalizing on soft power. The return to the African Union after more than three decades of absence was a point of inflection showing the Kingdom’s growing clout notably in West Africa, a region in which Moroccan banks and companies have […]
Morocco is illustrative of a rising power that has cannily deployed its soft power toolbox, including investments, human development projects, media, culture and religion to boost stability in the Sahel and Africa. In an article on the World Politics Review on the contribution of four main players in the security arena in the region, Morocco […]
King Mohammed VI wound up on Thursday his official visit to Tanzania, second leg of his East-African tour that previously took him to Rwanda. The Sovereign was also due to visit Ethiopia, but this third and last leg of the tour in East Africa has been “postponed” and not canceled, as reported by some media […]
North and West Africa are facing a complex set of challenges in terms of democratic transition and consolidation, a growing prominence of Islamist influence, and potential knock-on effects of recent socio-political transformations. Adding to this complexity is Africa’s raising geopolitical importance that is evident in the growing interest of other extra-territorial powers, such as China, […]
The current international environment has been significantly shaped by three defining events: the eurozone crisis, the ‘Arab Spring’ accompanied by the rise of political Islam in North Africa and the Middle East, and the continuing rise of China’s global influence. A closer look at these three seemingly disconnected events reveals that they are in fact […]