In recent years, the phenomenon of countries designated as "emerging powers" - "emerging powers" - has attracted the attention of politicians, scientists and the media. This name, it should be noted, does not fully reflect the essence of the phenomenon. After all, the states in question - first of all, China and India, as well as Brazil and a number of others-did not arise yesterday, and their policies, in particular, in Africa, have a rich history. Nevertheless, the economic rise and the resulting rapid entry of these countries into world markets in a new capacity is certainly a phenomenon that deserves serious analysis.

Africa has become an important area of foreign policy interest for China, as well as for India, which is "coming on its heels". Over the past decade, these countries have gained positions in many African countries and are successfully displacing traditional players - former metropolises-from some areas of the continent's economy.

If there are already publications on Chinese policy in Africa in Russia, then India's African policy has been overlooked by domestic researchers until recently. This gap is filled by the published book of Candidate of Historical Sciences V. A. Usov "India and Africa at the turn of the millennium. Past, present and future (Moscow, 2010).

The author should give credit to the historical approach to the problem. The twenty-first century has witnessed unprecedented Delhi activity on the continent. But the history of the formation and development of Indian-African relations is of considerable interest, and therefore we can welcome the fact that the first chapter of the work contains "A brief historical excursion into the development of contacts between the peoples of India and Africa".

Based on historical sources, the author traces the fate of Indian immigrants, whose descendants live in African countries to this day. Although the establishment of contacts between neighbors across the Indian Ocean goes back centuries, the rapid growth of Indian migration began in the mid-19th century. Among the immigrants was Mohamdas Karamchand Gandhi, who came to Africa in 1893 as a young lawyer, and who left it in 1914 as the spiritual leader of the Indian national liberation movement, whose opinion was listened to even after his death by African leaders.

As the author notes, Indian-African relations were not easy. The active anti-Indian propaganda of the colonial authorities, the position of official Delhi, which perceived the diaspora as an obstacle to its foreign policy goals, and the diplomatic isolation of India, which was defeated in the border conflict with China, from African countries made a negative contribution to them. But the most serious blow to these relations was the events of the 1960s and 1970s related to the policy of "Africanization" carried out by the authorities of the East African countries, which led to pogroms in Tanzania and the expulsion of Indians from Uganda.

However, as vividly shown in the book by V. A. Usov, despite the obstacles, Indian-African relations already in the 1960s. They were developed in many areas, which was also due to the "reformatting" of Delhi's foreign policy, in which economic diplomacy gained weight (p.47).

Further development of communication between India and African countries was observed in the 1990s, as described in the 2nd chapter of the monograph. This was largely due to the economic and social reforms that began in India and Africa in the late 1980s and early 1990s, as well as the rise to power of new political forces in African countries. At the same time, as the author notes, the 1990s were marked by a relative decline in the importance of Africa for India and a reorientation of its foreign policy in other directions, which was a consequence of cardinal changes in the international situation. However, the development of relations with African countries "has never completely left the field of view of Indian political and economic circles" (p.59).

A certain weakening of political ties between India and African countries during this period was compensated, as shown in the book, by the growth of mutual trade and investment cooperation. India has demonstrated its interest in African countries and its willingness to provide it with all possible economic assistance by implementing a number of projects. The most interesting of them, according to the author, was related to the development of agriculture in Burkina Faso in 1999-2002. This project continued in the form of resettlement to African countries of Indian farmers suffering from poverty.

from the lack of land and crop failures in India (p. 67).

Chapter 2 of the monograph deals with military and political cooperation between India and African countries, as well as India's participation in UN peacekeeping operations in Africa. The author cites data indicating a significant role played by India, which ranks third among UN member states in terms of the number of "blue helmets", in peacekeeping operations in hot spots on the continent. At the same time, he cites among the factors that contributed to the successful performance of combat missions by Indian peacekeepers, the similar way of life with Africans, the cultural, religious and linguistic diversity of India itself, which allows military personnel to quickly find a common language with the African population (p.87).

The book focuses on chapter 3, which deals with the current period of Indian-African relations. The author examines in detail the African policy of Delhi, a new aspect of which in the early 2000s was the involvement of the Indian diaspora in India's efforts to strengthen its influence in the countries of the continent (p. 103). Putting economic cooperation at the forefront of its relations with Africa, India pays special attention to the implementation of projects in various fields, primarily in the field of medicine and pharmacology. In order to attract Indian businesses to Africa, the Government is implementing the Focus-Africa program, which paved the way for other important projects, including the TIM-9 initiative, which includes India and eight West African countries, and offers African countries a project to create a unified fiber-optic and electronic communication system, which representatives of the AU called " opening a new era in South-South relations- South". India's trade with African countries is growing rapidly, amounting to $39.5 billion in 2009 (p. 116).

The author notes the growing role of the oil factor for India, which largely determined the choice of Africa as a priority area of Indian "petropolitik" and the growth of investment in African oil production (p. 118).

In its quest to gain access to African resources, India faces serious competition from not only Western, but also, above all, Chinese companies. In his book, V. A. Usov pays special attention to the role of the Chinese factor in the African policy of India, relying on the publications of Indian authors devoted to this topic. The author can be credited with trying to analyze the political and economic advantages of China in comparison with India in the struggle for influence in Africa, to identify the differences between the Chinese and Indian models of economic relations with African countries, to assess India's efforts to find its "niche" on the continent. Finally, and most importantly, the author analyzes Africa's response to Chinese and Indian politics, concluding that Indians are more able to adapt to local African conditions.

The last section of Chapter 3 is devoted to India's bilateral relations with African countries, which are considered on the example of India-South Africa relations. The author explains his choice by saying that South Africa is the most economically developed country on the continent, which has a great weight in international affairs, and is included together with India in one of the most promising organizations of developing countries - IBSA (India, Brazil, South Africa). In addition, it is with South Africa that India maintains complex and multifaceted relations, which not only have a deep history, but also, not limited to interstate contacts, are embodied in the development of business, cultural, sports and other ties (p.138). According to the author, it is South Africa that in the foreseeable future will become the African state in which India's new initiatives aimed at strengthening its presence in Africa and strengthening South-South cooperation will be tested.

Finally, chapter 4 of the book is devoted to an important issue for modern India - the role of the Indian diaspora in the countries of the continent. As the author notes, despite the efforts of the Indian government to include the diaspora in the solution of the country's foreign policy tasks, the issue of the diaspora remains acute in Delhi's relations with African countries. While the degree of Indian involvement in developing India's economic ties with Africa is significant, the Indian Government is concerned about the situation of Indian communities in Africa. Even in South Africa, where the conditions of the Indian minority have been most favorable since the collapse of the apartheid regime, fears of political marginalization continue to exist among the Indian population, accompanied by an increase in criminal attacks on life and property (p.171). The prosperity of Indian communities against the background of poverty and poverty of the mass of the indigenous population creates the ground for anti-Indian sentiment in East African countries as well.

The problems of the Indian diaspora, the author writes, are also complicated by the fact that India is not yet strong enough, and communities have to rely on their own strength, which increases their self-isolation and creates wariness and even hostility of the indigenous population to "outsiders". However, Delhi's new approach to the Indian diaspora as strengthening relations with Africa can help the diaspora's stable existence and strengthen its role as a useful intermediary in relations between African countries and India.

If the overall assessment of the book is positive, a number of comments could be made, in particular, concerning the structure of the work. Thus, the first section of Chapter 2, which deals with India's relations with Africa in the 1990s, would be more logical as the last paragraph of chapter 1. At the same time, the 2nd and 3rd paragraphs include material chronologically related to the 3rd chapter. However, these are rather not comments, but recommendations to the author of a very interesting and useful work on a topical topic, which until now only foreign researchers have paid attention to.

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