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African Political Elites and the Making(s) of the China Model in Africa
Get PDFStates in Africa are labeled “system ineffectual,” inconsequential to global politics, and lacking material and ideational capabilities to structure their foreign relations. The result is a portrayal of a passive Africa at the whims of its bilateral partners—be they China, the United States, or Russia. Contra this impolitic framing of Africa, this article explores how states in Africa are strategically shaping the norms of development paradigms promoted by foreign powers and influencing external actors to legitimize their preferred norms. Empirically focusing on China's development model in Africa, the article examines how norms related to the model are being shaped and diffused; and how through the ingenuity of political elites, China is making the China model “on the go.” The main argument is that political elites in Africa are strategically reconstructing the China model, creating their own multifaceted versions that delicately balance their own domestic interests and their bilateral relations with China while deriving maximum benefits from the People's Republic of China. Related Articles (in this Special Issue): Duggan, Niall. 2020. “China—The Champion of the Developing World: A Study of China's new Development Model and its Role in Changing Global Economic Governance.” Politics & Policy 48 (5). Ganda, Willie D. 2020. “The China Model in Zimbabwe: The Belt and Road Initiative and Beyond.” Politics & Policy 48 (5). Hodzi, Obert, and John H. S. Åberg. 2020. “Introduction to the Special Issue: Strategic Deployment of the China Model in Africa.” Politics & Policy 48 (5)
Introduction to the Special Issue: Strategic Deployment of the China Model in Africa
Get PDFThis introductory article examines the concept of strategic localization, which is central to the theme of this Special Issue of Politics & Policy. We focus on how African states, for regime survival and/or pragmatic reasons, reinterpret China's development discourse and preferences and implement them in their local contexts. We hypothesize that the China model of development has become a rhetorical commonplace used to legitimize policies perceived to be: (1) better for regime survival (e.g., no political conditionalities; dissemination of resources to elites); and (2) superior to other development models (more suitable for developing countries, better at developing strong states). The article will also give a synopsis of the other articles in the Special Issue—highlighting their main arguments and findings. Related Articles (in this Special Issue): Åberg, John H. S., and Derick Becker. 2020. “China as Exemplar: Justin Lin, New Structural Economics, and the Unorthodox Orthodoxy of the China Model.” Politics & Policy 48 (5). Babones, Salvatore. 2020. “China's Development Model: Can it be Replicated in Sub-Saharan Africa?” Politics & Policy 48 (5). Hodzi, Obert. 2020. “African Political Elites and the Making(s) of the China Model in Africa.” Politics & Policy 48 (5)
Strategy of ‘Parallels’ : China in the South Sudanese armed conflict
No full textFor China, South Sudan assays its long-standing foreign policy principles and development ideologies in Africa - the non-interference principle and the idea that economic development brings peace and security. But beyond that, it ostensibly unveils the intricacies of Beijing’s foreign policy strategies, especially the efficacy of its non-interference principle when faced with intrastate armed conflicts in Africa. In a space of three years, China’s position in the South Sudanese civil war revolved around strict adherence to its non-interference principle, urging parties in the conflict to seek political solutions, direct mediation and deployment of combat troops under the auspices of the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in South Sudan. At face value, the shift from one strategy to the other suggests the absence of a coherent strategy, implying that Beijing is being opportunistic, crafting its strategies as it goes. Although it might be the case that Beijing is ‘learning on the job’, its strategy in South Sudan is not linear but rather a deliberately convoluted strategy of ‘parallels’. This article, accordingly, explores this strategy of ‘parallels’ and the implications it may have on Beijing’s future engagement with civil wars in Africa
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The End of China's Non-Intervention Policy in Africa /
No full textThis book gives a compelling analysis and explanation of shifts in China's non-intervention policy in Africa. Systematically connecting the neoclassical realist theoretical logic with an empirical analysis of China's intervention in African civil wars, the volume highlights a methodical interlink between theoretical and empirical analysis that takes into consideration the changing status of rising powers in the global system and its effect on their intervention behaviour. Based on field research and expert interviews, it provides a rigorous analysis of China's emergent intervention behaviour in some key African conflicts in Libya, South Sudan and Mali and broadens the study of external interventions in civil wars to include the intervention behaviour of non-Western rising powers. Obert Hodzi is Visiting Researcher at the African Studies Center, Boston University, USA, and Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Helsinki, Finland
Commodification of elections: the future of elections in Zimbabwe
Get PDFThe economic voting theory and the responsibility hypothesis posit that voters hold the government accountable for economic performance and will vote for the incumbent if the economy is good. The core assumption is that there is an incumbent and an opposition contesting in an election. But, this is not always the case. In elections following a transitional power sharing government, the schism between the incumbent and the opposition is generally blurred. Political parties that usually contest in the elections would have been part of the transitional power-sharing government. In such cases, voters are not able to apportion responsibility, and political parties compete to claim credit and assign blame. This increases the propensity for election commodification. Applying this proposition to Zimbabwe’s 2013 elections, this paper contends that commodification of elections increases in polls following a transitional power sharing government when political parties contesting in the elections were part of the transitional power sharing government, making it difficult for voters to determine responsibility for policy, and leading to intense competition among political parties to claim credit and apportion blame for the performance of the transitional power-sharing government
Bridging the asymmetries? African students’ mobility to China
Get PDFBridging the asymmetries? African students’ mobility to Chin
Understanding China’s Influence towards Central and Eastern European Countries: Adaptive Approach, Local Agency and Contextual Factors
No full textAgainst the backdrop of China’s rise and the growing presence in Central and Eastern Europe, especially the launch of the China-Central and Eastern European Countries Cooperation Framework, widespread wisdom assumed that China’s engagement in the region constitutes a coherent and successful strategy of influence. Instead, this study contends that China’s approach towards Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) is best understood as improvised and adaptive, shaped not only by Beijing’s intentions and methods but also by the agency of local states and the evolving international context. It further examines the fragmented and limited nature of China’s influence in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) from 2012 to 2024.
The analytical framework developed in this study integrates five modalities of influence – Preference Multiplier, Discursive Persuasion, Institutional Shaping, Accommodation, and Power to Prevail. China’s approach is chronological as it exhibits different combinations of influence modalities at different stages, highlighting that it is impacted by the interaction between China’s practices, local agency, and broader contextual factors. By systematically examining China’s evolving engagement and conducting comparative case studies (notably Hungary and Lithuania), the study demonstrates the limited and fragmented nature of China’s influence.
The findings further indicate that China’s influence in CEE is limited and fragmented, fundamentally constrained by three interrelated factors: 1. Inherent limitations in China’s approach, 2. The differentiated agency of CEECs, and 3. Contextual factors, particularly the shifting EU policy and dynamics in US-China and EU-China relations.
This research makes three main contributions: 1. It challenges the widespread wisdom of a coherent Chinese grand strategy in CEE, offering a more nuanced account of China’s improvised approach and the region’s differentiated responses. 2. It advances the theoretical literature by refining a comprehensive influence framework in a novel regional context. 3. Grounding analysis in extensive empirical evidence and original case studies provides a foundation for comparative research on China’s influence in other world regions and future studies on the interaction between external actors, local agency, and regional context
Delegitimization and ‘Re-socialization’ : China and the Diffusion of Alternative Norms in Africa
Get PDFSocialization of Africa into the liberal international order was largely a preserve of the West. However, as China expands its economic and political influence across Africa, the liberal international order is being put to the test. Representing alternative global governance norms and values, China is seeking the legitimation of its emerging global leadership by delegitimizing its rival, the United States. How the delegitimization and expected ‘re-socialization’ of Africa are unfolding is this article’s subject of enquiry. Based on expert interviews conducted in Africa and China, the article examines the interlink between legitimation and ‘re-socialization’ within the context of China’s rising influence in Africa. It advances the argument that China is concerned with having a global order, operating based on norms and values favourable to its national and geopolitical interests. In making this argument, the article refocuses the attention onto the subtle making of a global order preferred by China, at least in Africa.Peer reviewe
Return to isolationism? China and the decoupling of people-to-people relations in China’s relations with Africa
No full textIn its history, China has used self-isolation as a strategy to deal with perceived internal and foreign ‘existential threats.’ This strategy frames the non-Chinese and outside world as the ‘dangerous other’, thus justifying self-isolationism as a survival and preservation strategy. This paper, explores how China has employed this strategy to deal with the COVID pandemic. The COVID pandemic triggered this survival instinct in China and resulted in its self-isolation. The paper examines how Beijing’s zero COVID rate strategy, ostracization of foreigners, particularly Africans, and their framing as the other has resulted in the decoupling of people-to-people engagement from Beijing’s foreign policy. It further explores how the self-imposed Isolation of China and framing of Africans as the dangerous other challenged China\u27s self-portrayal as the continent’s all-weather friend, and how that has exposed the schism between the responses of African elites and ordinary citizens to the othering of Africans in China
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