Report Launch: Shaping the Security Landscape: How Russia and China Approach the Issue of Security in Africa

Join us via Zoom on Wednesday, April 8, 10am ET. This report discusses how China and Russia pursue structurally different approaches to Africa, rooted in competing theories of power projection. China seeks to embed influence through institutions. Its engagement prioritizes stability, governance cooperation, infrastructure development, professional military relationships, and long-horizon information investment designed to generate alignment that persists beyond individual leaders or crises. Russia, by contrast, exports outcomes rather than systems. Moscow’s model relies on regime protection, security contracting, political disruption, and information operations that generate immediate leverage but rarely produce durable institutional influence. Where China operates best in environments capable of sustaining long-term investment, Russia often thrives in conditions of political fragility and insecurity.