Senegal and Guinea-Bissau: from global to regional geopolitics?
Abstract
In the study of African affairs, there is a tendency to underestimate the importance of regional politics in favour of more global narratives. Examining the relationship between Senegal and Guinea-Bissau since their colonial origins, the present chapter offers a case in point: over time, Dakar has become a key -though often unrecognized -factor in Bissau-Guinean politics. The two countries formed along a geopolitical fault-line between the French and Portuguese empires, and then between blocs, East and West. But as the Cold War ended and a wave of political and economic liberalisation engulfed West Africa, the fates of Senegal and Guinea-Bissau have become even more enmeshed, in complex and ambivalent ways. The separatist conflict in Casamance has driven Senegal into the military and political scenes of Guinea-Bissau, to the point that Senegalese troops intervened in Bissau during the war of 1998. More structurally, economic transformations have made Senegal into a hub for Guinea-Bissau, adding to Dakar's leverage. Learning the lessons of 1998, the Senegalese state has been using its clout to buttress political coalitions in Bissau deemed more favourable to its interests, a move that has not gone without creating controversies.