This chapter explores the importance of ‘image’ in African-donor relations. Focusing on East Africa, it compares the cases of Uganda and Rwanda – long viewed positively and supported by donor officials in spite of their semi-authoritarian tendencies – with that of Kenya, a country which has constantly battled with aid cuts resulting from a poor international image associated with corruption and ethnic strife. In attempting to explain why the three countries (or, at least, their governments) have been viewed so differently by their development partners, the chapter looks particularly at how the administrations of Yoweri Museveni, Paul Kagame, Daniel arap Moi and Mwai Kibaki have themselves attempted to manage their international image. Examining these governments’ ‘image management’ strategies involves a threefold investigation: first, into the personal relationships between African and donor officials, second, African uses of US/UK lobbying firms, and third, high-level African engagement with western media houses, think tanks, universities and other ‘knowledge producers’. The chapter ultimately argues that, if suitably skilled, African governments can use these strategies to manage and augment their ‘images’ in donor capitals, resulting in increased international assistance, but that, if implemented poorly, such strategies can have a deleterious effect on regime maintenance.

This chapter introduces, and sets out the rationale for, the edited collection, which examines the extent to which UKAfrica policy has taken on a distinctive character since the end of the New Labour era (1997–2010). The central argument advanced is that there is a need for scholars to explore the connections between different domestic and international drivers of UK Africa policy if they are to better understand the relationships between Britain and Africa, as well as the successes and failures of efforts to influence policy in this area. The chapter outlines the main areas of focus for the collection, and reviews and synthesises existing literature on the UK–Africa relationship. The authors situate the collection within three areas of inquiry: change and continuity in UK interests in Africa (instrumentalisation), power dynamics within UK–Africa relationships (agency) and the place of Africa in domestic UK politics (identity).

This chapter reviews and summarises the main findings of the collection and their implications for scholarship and policy. The chapter highlights some critical changes in emphasis in UK Africa policy since 2010, including divergences in emphasis and policy around trade across the three main UK political parties and a growing fracture in the 1997–2010 political consensus around UK development policy. In these cases, as with wider UK Africa policy, Brexit has represented a critical point of reference. The chapter also explores continuities in UK Africa policy since 1997 (and before), particularly in the realm of security and wider UK–Africa diplomacy. The chapter concludes by exploring the implications of the collection’s findings for understanding broader power dynamics in the UK–Africa relationship and for future policy itself.