Academia meets Policy Workshop on “NL-Africa Relations in a Fragmenting World Order”
On 26 May 2026, two colleagues from the Institute for History participated in an “Academia meets Policy” workshop organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of the Netherlands. With Karen Smith speaking in the opening panel, and Anne-Isabelle Richard in the closing, not only Leiden University but the Institute for History’s Africa expertise was showcased.
The aim of the workshop was two-fold: to revisit the Netherlands’ Africa Strategy, and to strengthen engagements between the Foreign Ministry and academics working on relevant topics. The backdrop was that, since the publication of the Netherlands-Africa Strategy in 2023, both the Dutch political landscape has evolved in a broader context of a rapidly changing and fragmenting world order.
The question currently facing the foreign ministry is how the Dutch strategic posture towards Africa can remain analytically grounded and strategically coherent in this changing landscape. This has led to a renewed focus on how the MFA and academia can collaborate to contextualise and better understand emerging issues, and to formulate policy responses grounded in academic research. Topics discussed included regional cooperation and integration, the perceived tension between pursuing an interest-driven and a values-driven foreign policy, global value chains and critical minerals, and development cooperation.