A Partnership of Equals? - A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Joint Africa-EU strategy

Sammanfattning: The legacy of colonialism has been, and continues to, evoke debates and discussions in the postcolonial society. These discussions cover aspects of colonialism ranging from the historic colonial deeds to its lingering impact. Therefore, they tend to be distinguished by the complexity and diversity that characterizes the subject of colonialism. Actions taken to abolish the colonial rule and its implications have been extensive. Yet, many postcolonial scholars claim that the repercussions of colonialism are still present and remain prevailing, which they argue is partly made possible by the postulates of liberalism. With this in mind, the matter of postcolonialism in the modern era presents intriguing questions and puzzles. This study of ours aims to illustrate this phenomena by investigating the Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES); a cooperation project sending the African Union (AU) and the European Union (EU) on a converging path to a partnership of equals and highlighting the commitment of establishing a mutually favorable and equal relationship. However, the question being raised in light of these ambitions is whether or not, and to what extent, the JAES partnership demonstrates not only liberal rhetorics and views but also postcolonial elements. Through the exercise of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), and more precisely discourse semantics, our study has found that the discourse of JAES demonstrates postcolonial tendencies - although to a limited extent. Additionally, the dialectical-relational approach founded by Norman Fairclough extends our conclusion; assuming a correlation between social practice and discourse, the JAES partnership as a whole, and not just its discourse, can be said to inhabit postcolonial tendencies.