The export of social and democratic habitus as a tacit guarantee in the pursuit of open strategic autonomy in the European Union: the case of the global gateway in Africa

In an increasingly fragmented and multipolar international system, the European Union (EU) seeks to maintain its geopolitical relevance by advancing inclusive cooperation models that reinforce its foundational political and social values. These values – anchored in the European Social Pillar (ESP), regulatory frameworks, and democratic governance – serve as both an internal safeguard and an external strategy for reinforcing the EU’s role as a normative power. However, contemporary global challenges, including geopolitical rivalries, energy dependencies, and technological disruptions, necessitate a more structured approach to securing strategic autonomy while maintaining multilateral engagement. This paper explores the concept of open strategic autonomy as a guiding principle of EU foreign policy, analyzing how initiatives such as the Global Gateway Strategy function as geopolitical instruments for regulatory influence and economic engagement. A key focus is on the EU’s engagement with Africa, where the Global Gateway serves as a counterbalance to alternative cooperation models, such as China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The paper proposes a conceptual model for understanding the interplay between internal governance, strategic autonomy, and global influence. This model offers a structured approach to aligning EU regulatory power, economic partnerships, and geopolitical stability in a way that ensures both internal resilience and external projection of European values.