By Ramesh Jaura* – rjaura.substack.com
Can Europe avoid reproducing the patterns of its past?
As Europe grapples with multiple crises — from the war in Ukraine to escalating tensions in the Middle East — it is also facing an uncomfortable reckoning with its past. For centuries, Europe’s rise was fuelled by colonisation, particularly in Africa and the Middle East.
Today, as geopolitical pressures mount, Europe’s old patterns of extraction and intervention risk reasserting themselves under new guises: economic dependency, energy politics, and military alignments. Yet, these crises also present a historic opportunity for Europe to redefine its role in the world not as an imperial power but as a genuine partner committed to equity, stability, and global responsibility.
The choice Europe faces today is stark. It can either reproduce the exploitative structures of its colonial past or emerge as a responsible global actor that reckons honestly with history, balances hard and soft power, and works towards genuine partnerships across Africa and the Middle East while resisting aggression in Eastern Europe. The world is watching closely.
Africa: The First Colonial Frontier of Europe
The roots of Europe’s global dominance lie in the conquest and colonisation of Africa, its neighbouring continent. The so-called “Scramble for Africa” of the late 19th century was nothing short of an international auction of human lives and natural resources. Convened at the Berlin Conference of 1884–85, European powers divided the continent among themselves, redrawing borders with disregard for indigenous nations, cultures, and governance systems.
Britain, France, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, and other countries established colonial regimes that prioritised economic extraction above all else. The Congo Free State, personally controlled by Belgium’s King Leopold II, became one of the most brutal examples of colonial violence: forced labour, mutilations, mass deaths, and systemic atrocities claimed millions of Congolese lives. This system of plunder provided Europe with rubber, ivory, copper, and gold while leaving African societies ravaged.
The colonial logic was straightforward: raw materials would flow from Africa to Europe, and manufactured goods would be sold back to African markets. Infrastructure development — including ports, railways, and roads — primarily served the needs of extraction rather than local development. Education systems were designed to produce compliant colonial subjects, not empowered citizens.
As the Guyanese historian Walter Rodney famously argued in How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, these extractive economies were designed to keep African nations permanently dependent and economically stunted. When formal colonial rule ended in the mid-20th century, many African countries inherited fragile political institutions, fractured societies, and economies built around the export of raw materials in their natural state.
Neocolonialism: Modern Faces, Traditional Patterns
Though colonial rule formally ended, Europe’s influence over Africa never truly disappeared. Today, Western multinational corporations dominate key sectors of African economies — from mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo to oil in Nigeria and Angola. These partnerships, often facilitated by complicit elites, continue to extract enormous wealth from the continent with limited benefit to local populations.
The case of the DRC remains emblematic. Vast reserves of cobalt, copper, coltan, and other critical minerals are essential for the global energy transition, powering batteries, electric vehicles, and renewable technologies. Yet, Western and Chinese firms largely control production and profits, while Congolese workers often endure dangerous, poorly regulated labour conditions.
Debt dependency has also become a modern tool of control. African nations owe billions to Western financial institutions, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, which often impose austerity measures as conditions for their loans. Trade agreements heavily favour European markets, limiting African nations’ ability to build diversified industrial economies.
The European Union’s Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) are often criticised for locking African states into unfair trade relationships, mirroring the colonial pattern of exporting raw goods while importing expensive finished products. In short, while flags may have changed, the structural asymmetries remain deeply familiar.
Europe’s Middle East: Colonial Borders and Modern Crises
Europe’s reach extended beyond Africa, deep into the Middle East, where its interventions continue to shape regional instability. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Britain and France divided the Levant under the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement, carving out artificial nation-states from multiethnic, multireligious territories. Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Palestine, and others inherited borders designed for colonial administration, not national coherence.
Control over Middle Eastern oil reserves became a critical pillar of Europe’s postwar reconstruction and economic growth. European and American companies built vast petroleum empires, while local populations often saw little benefit. Military interventions, political meddling, and arms sales followed as European powers sought to secure energy access and regional influence.
Today, Europe finds itself once again entangled in Middle Eastern conflicts. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, escalating tensions with Iran, wars in Syria and Yemen, and the collapse of Libya all have indirect roots in colonial-era interventions and Cold War rivalries, often supported or tolerated by Western powers.
The recent escalation between Israel and Iran — involving Israeli strikes on Iranian military facilities and retaliatory missile attacks — has triggered a dangerous new phase of regional instability. Europe, heavily dependent on Middle Eastern energy imports, now faces renewed economic vulnerability as oil prices surge and shipping routes are threatened.
European leaders, including the EU’s Foreign Policy Chief Kaja Kallasand Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, have called for de-escalation and renewed diplomatic engagement. Yet, Europe remains caught between its economic dependencies, its alliances with the United States and Israel, and its broader humanitarian responsibilities toward the millions affected by war across the region.
The Ukraine War: Europe’s Existential Geopolitical Test
While Africa and the Middle East represent the historical roots of Europe’s global footprint, the Ukraine war has become the most urgent test of Europe’s ability to navigate today’s complex power dynamics.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Europe has been forced to confront both its security dependencies and its economic vulnerabilities. The European Union has imposed unprecedented sanctions on Russia, supplied military aid to Ukraine, and sought to reduce its longstanding reliance on Russian energy imports.
The war has disrupted global food supplies, as both Ukraine and Russia were major exporters of wheat, corn, and fertilisers. African and Middle Eastern countries, highly dependent on these imports, have faced rising food prices, shortages, and growing humanitarian crises. In many ways, the Ukraine conflict has intensified Europe’s interconnection with its former colonies as war-driven inflation spills across borders.
Energy markets have been profoundly reshaped. Europe’s scramble to replace Russian gas has led to new energy partnerships with the Middle East, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, and the UAE, thereby increasing Europe’s exposure to instability in those regions. Meanwhile, Indian and Gulf refiners have found creative ways to circumvent sanctions by blending Russian crude, exporting refined products to Europe, and profiting from the global energy dislocation.
The Ukraine war has also triggered a radical rethinking of European defence policy. New initiatives, such as “Readiness 2030,” call for hundreds of billions in joint military spending, defence procurement, and the creation of a more autonomous European security architecture that is less dependent on the United States.
Some European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, have advocated for a more independent European defence posture — a “strategic autonomy” that enables Europe to act decisively while avoiding dangerous escalation with Russia or becoming overly reliant on U.S. strategic priorities. This delicate balance remains a work in progress.
Africa and the Middle East: Collateral Damage or Europe’s Future Partners?
The convergence of these crises — colonial legacies in Africa, persistent turmoil in the Middle East, and the Ukraine war — raises a larger question: can Europe avoid reproducing the patterns of its past?
Across Africa, the war-induced shocks in food and energy prices have amplified existing economic fragilities. Many African states, still burdened by debt and reliant on exports, now face growing social unrest and food insecurity. Europe’s scramble for critical minerals to fuel its green energy transition risks exacerbating extractive relationships unless managed with equity, transparency, and genuine partnership.
Similarly, in the Middle East, Europe’s energy security calculations often come at the cost of human rights and democratic reform. While courting Gulf monarchies to secure LNG supplies, European powers risk entrenching authoritarian regimes and delaying long-overdue political transitions.
Yet, there are signs of potential transformation. Increasingly, African and Middle Eastern leaders are asserting their agency, demanding fairer terms of trade, debt relief, technology transfers, and joint infrastructure development rather than relying on aid dependency. Europe has a unique opportunity to address these demands seriously, fostering genuine partnerships rather than perpetuating asymmetric dependencies.
Europe at a Crossroads: Imperialism or Global Duty?
Europe’s multiple crises present both danger and opportunity. Its actions in the next decade will determine whether it continues to benefit from the structures of colonialism in disguised form or truly commits to a multilateral, post-imperial global order.
In Africa, this means moving beyond resource extraction to invest in local industries, education, technology, and climate resilience. In the Middle East, it requires a careful balance of diplomacy, security cooperation, and economic engagement that does not sacrifice democratic values for short-term stability. Ukraine demands both steadfast resistance to Russian aggression and a broader vision for an inclusive European security order that does not simply replicate Cold War bloc politics.
This is Europe’s moment of truth. As it confronts the ghosts of its colonial past while navigating 21st-century power rivalries, its choices will resonate far beyond Brussels, Paris, or Berlin — across the Sahel, the Persian Gulf, and the Donbas alike. The world is watching to see whether Europe can finally break with its imperial legacy and embrace a more just, responsible, and globally sustainable future.
*Ramesh Jaura, has worked as a professional journalist for nearly sixty years. His career includes roles as a freelancer, head of Inter Press Service, and Editor-in-Chief of International Press Syndicate and IDN-InDepthNews.