Apr 20, 2026
Xolisa Ngwadla
and Paul Thompson
As the old world order fractures and a multipolar era takes shape, Africa has an unprecedented opportunity to translate its global position and enviable economic endowments into durable geopolitical and economic leverage. But African leaders will have to play their cards right.
JOHANNESBURG—Empires do not yield power gracefully. At the height of the Roman Empire, legionaries carried the gladius—a short, precise instrument of dominance. But as the empire declined, soldiers eventually switched to the longer spatha, a choice that implied a loss of confidence vis-à-vis rivals and new challengers. The analogy is instructive, now that American hegemony is giving way to a multipolar world. The transition away from the post-war Bretton Woods monetary architecture and the rules-based trading order will be turbulent. The weapons are already getting longer, and Africa must decide how it will respond.
