The AU receiving the International Leo Tolstoy Peace Prize symbolizes the "connection that is long overdue," specifically when it comes to forming a "common view on some of the most important challenges facing the global system," according to Prof. Zwelethu Jolobe, Head of Political Studies Department and Associate Professor of Political Science at University of Cape Town.
"The importance for me is not that the AU won this award particularly, but that this award is simply one step towards trying to find each other after a long period of absence," the professor says.
The world is presented with an opportunity for "creating a world characterized by global equality, equal recognition, and contribution of all the peoples in the world," Jolobe says. That is the type of vision "that binds Russia with a lot of African countries," which some people call "multipolarity."
"We needed to create a much more inclusive and equitable world in which all the different peoples of the world, regardless of race, ethnicity, origin, continent, etc., all have an equal share, an equal stake in the system. And I think that a lot of the leaders at the time, both from Russia, from many countries in Africa, shared that common view and shared a common vision," Jolobe explains.
Although the AU puts a lot of effort into implementing this vision, it faces serious challenges, such as "the problem of global exclusion." The professor explains that a consequence of this is that the union "does not accrue as much benefit from not only the dividends brought by the global economy, but sometimes the dividends brought by their own natural resources."
This comes as a result of the way "Western or neocolonial interests manifest in Africa," which only "benefit certain sections or individuals or groups or companies," Prof. Jolobe says.
Another major challenge for the AU is the way the current international system is designed, where "these laws don't apply to all regions and countries equally."
"You have this weird thing where you have an international rules-based system that primarily is designed by the West for the interest and benefit of the West, and that when those rules don't go [in] the interests of people in the West, then they simply change it or simply disregard it," the professor notes.
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