Providing security in a liberal world order: The only tool left for European Union in Africa?

China has established a strong economic position in Africa, in particular due to the volume of its trade and FDI. No doubt, the progress of China challenges the former predominant position of Europe/the European Union on the continent. The paper argues that provision of security in violent conflicts is the only tool left for the EU to maintain some influence on African governments and African regional organizations. The argument is located within the debate on the development of a liberal world order. Therefore, the paper scrutinizes not only a number of conflicts but also the political dialogue between the African Union and the EU and the one between China and the AU. It also looks into the debate on the ‘responsibility to protect’ to see if there is a convergence of norms and values linked to the R2P. The paper concludes that provision of security is hardly an efficient tool for the European Union to maintain influence in Africa. Not only is China becoming very actively involved in peacekeeping. Moreover, the political dialogue between Africa and China is fairly conflict free and the two parties seem to share values and norms on the R2P. Not least, the Libya 2011 war split the EU and the Africans on norms and values on top of a difficult dialogue