A refresh of Tanzania’s foreign policy strategy is long overdue. The official review commissioned by President Samia Suluhu Hassan presents an opportunity to define a bolder strategic vision.
Formerly one of Africa’s leading voices on the global stage and a fierce supporter of the continent’s liberation struggles, Tanzania faded in international prominence after the Cold War amid a drive for domestic political and economic liberalization. In recognition of this shift, Tanzania’s first ever official strategy – the New Foreign Policy of 2001 – directed that external relations must be primarily guided by economic objectives. Yet, under the fervently nationalist presidency of John Magufuli from 2015–21, Tanzania damaged trade and investment partnerships, withdrew from several international commitments and clashed with international organizations including the EU and the UN. Since Magufuli’s death in 2021, his successor as president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, has begun repairing Tanzania’s global image, including by commissioning an official review of foreign policy in 2023–24 – seeking the first successful refresh of strategy for more than two decades.
An updated and effective Tanzanian foreign policy is therefore overdue, and could have significant wider implications for Tanzania’s regional and international standing. Tanzania is strategically located between East and southern Africa, and is endowed with major natural resources including mineral deposits and offshore gas. Given insecurity in the neighbouring Great Lakes region and northern Mozambique, Tanzania’s own avoidance of major internal conflict makes it an important regional anchor for stability. Tanzania’s current population of 65 million people – roughly similar to that of the UK – is projected to double by 2050 according to UN figures, which would make Tanzania the world’s 15th largest country by population in that year. Its political future is also in the balance: the former socialist liberation movement Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) has governed Tanzania since independence in 1962, with a centralization of power under the Magufuli era eroding a fragile commitment to democracy since multipartyism began in 1992.
This research paper argues that the government’s foreign policy review must seize the opportunity to define a bolder strategic vision for Tanzania’s foreign policy. The momentum of Tanzania’s international revival has so far placed an emphasis on carefully rebuilding relations with a diverse range of partners, creating greater resilience in Tanzania’s search for external investment. Yet a slow and hesitant approach alone will not be enough to safeguard against a return to isolation. A new strategy must emphasize proactive engagement with regional institutions and on global issues, while maintaining the balance between domestic interests and external partnerships for investment.
The paper is grounded in an extensive in-country research process as part of a collaborative project between Chatham House and the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) titled Tanzania’s Foreign Policy Agenda: Economic Diplomacy and International Agency. Insights were generated from private roundtable dialogues with Tanzanian and regional stakeholders, held in Arusha and Dar es Salaam in 2023, as well as interviews with Tanzanian foreign affairs experts and policymakers. Its findings seek to guide Tanzanian leaders in the design and implementation of their new foreign policy strategy. The paper aims equally to foster better understanding of Tanzania’s foreign policy among the country’s external partners – who frequently cite the inaccessibility and unpredictability of Tanzanian decision-making as a challenge for bilateral engagement.
