Nigeria, Jan. 21 -- Amid a turbulent start to the year and the emergence of the 'Donroe Doctrine', global policymakers are adjusting to an increasingly muscular, interventionist United States (US) intent on setting the rules.

The doctrine is highlighted in the 2025 US National Security Strategy as a 'Trump Corollary' to the 19th-century Monroe Doctrine that aimed to assert US geopolitical dominance across the Western Hemisphere. The implications will undoubtedly reverberate globally. Africa is no exception, even though it receives just three paragraphs in the strategy.

As Niall Ferguson recently observed, this moment represents a 'back to the future' return to great-power competition, with Washington and Beijing as the primary poles. Af...