The Chinese infrastructural fix in Africa: lessons from the Sino-Zambian ‘road bonanza’

Zajontz, Tim

doi:10.1080/13600818.2020.1861230

Cited by 27 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…(2019, p. 1370). For instance, throughout the 2010s, Zambia's ruling party has strategically used Chinese loans to advance its ambitious 'development-through-infrastructure' agenda (Zajontz 2020a). The keen interest of Chinese banks and firms to fund and construct infrastructure was strategically employed by Zambian elites to pursue infrastructure-led development, whilst simultaneously furthering certain vested interests with the help of 'not so public' procurement processes (Zajontz 2020b, pp.123-130).…”

Section: Spheres Of African State Agency: State Actors and Their Cont...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Infrastructure and the Politics of African State Agency: Shaping the Belt and Road Initiative in East Africa

Chiyemura

Gambino

Zajontz

2022

Chin. Polit. Sci. Rev.

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Infrastructure development has experienced a political renaissance in Africa and is again at the centre of national, regional, and continental development agendas. At the same time, China has been identified by African policy-makers as a particularly suitable strategic partner. As infrastructure has become a main pillar of Sino-African cooperation, there has been growing analytical interest on the role of African actors in shaping the terms and conditions and, by extension, the implementation of infrastructure projects with Chinese participation. This follows a more general African “agency turn” in China–Africa studies, which has shifted the research focus on the myriad ways in which African state and non-state actors shape the continent’s engagements with China. This article is situated within this growing body of literature and explores different forms of an African state agency in the context of Tanzania’s planned Bagamoyo port, Ethiopia’s Adama wind farms, and Kenya’s Lamu port. We posit a non-reductionist and social-relational ontology of the (African) state which sees the state as a multifaceted and multi-scalar institutional ensemble. We show that the extent and forms of state agencies exerted are inherently interrelated with and, thus, highly contingent upon concrete institutional, economic, political, and bureaucratic contexts in which African state actors are firmly embedded. In doing so, we make the case for a context-sensitive analysis of various spheres of a state agency in particular conjunctures of Sino-African engagement.

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Section: Spheres Of African State Agency: State Actors and Their Cont...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Infrastructure and the Politics of African State Agency: Shaping the Belt and Road Initiative in East Africa

Chiyemura

Gambino

Zajontz

2022

Chin. Polit. Sci. Rev.

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“…The country's overambitious, debtfinanced 'development-through-infrastructure' agenda was rendered possible by the extensive disbursement of Chinese loans, some of which were for overpriced projects negotiated in 'not so public' procurement processes. Zambia's debtto-GDP ratio surpassed 100 per cent in 2020, up from 18.9 per cent a decade earlier (Zajontz, 2022b). In November 2020, the Treasury started to default on Eurobond repayments (Williams, 2020).…”

Section: The Debt Backlashmentioning

confidence: 99%

From ‘debt diplomacy’ to donorship? China’s changing role in global development

Carmody

Zajontz

Reboredo

2022

Global Political Economy

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Since the mid-1990s the Chinese state and the country’s businesses have significantly increased their activity throughout the Global South. In International Development, China’s impacts on this varied meta-region have generated substantial interest in recent years due to their scale, scope and distinctive nature. Understandably, given the complexity of the subject, most analyses have focused on discrete aspects of Chinese engagement rather than attempting to undertake more comprehensive assessments around its nature and evolution. This article engages this lacuna by identifying the main vectors of China’s engagement in the Global South, and examining their adaptive nature. In particular it identifies the main channels of impact and intersection before focusing on China’s signature foreign economic policy, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), to ground the analysis. The article then examines the ways in which China is reconfiguring its foreign economic diplomacy in response to the issue of infrastructure-linked debt – perhaps the most controversial aspect of China’s growing global presence. We demonstrate that the Chinese ‘development’ policy is currently undergoing a substantial reorganisation towards soft power initiatives in response to (geo)political backlashes arising from the previous implementation of the BRI and the risks such loans present to the Chinese economy. We characterise this as an attempt at ‘normalisation’ of China as a ‘donor’, suggesting the power of global public opinion despite the ‘omni-channel politics’ and other power resources the country can bring to bear.

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“…For instance, transportations infrastructures are important factors to development and economic growth. Most firms (3.6%) estimate the lack of transport infrastructure as the main hindrance to the development of business on the continent (Zajontz, 2021). In Africa, the poor quality of roads, railways and port infrastructures can increase not only the cost but also the transit times and breakage (Zajontz, 2021).…”

Section: Contextualizing African Infrastructurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most firms (3.6%) estimate the lack of transport infrastructure as the main hindrance to the development of business on the continent (Zajontz, 2021). In Africa, the poor quality of roads, railways and port infrastructures can increase not only the cost but also the transit times and breakage (Zajontz, 2021). According to the African Development Bank, road freight tariffs per kilometer are two to four times higher in Africa than in the United States and travel time along key export routes are two to four times higher than in Asia (African Development Bank, 2018).…”

Section: Contextualizing African Infrastructurementioning

confidence: 99%

A Sentiment Based Text Analysis of the Perception of Chinese Infrastructure Development in Africa: Cases from Nigeria and Ethiopia

Thiombiano

Tulga²

2021

IJSSS

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This paper investigates the perceptions of Africans on Chinese infrastructure development in Nigeria and Ethiopia. Using a sentiment-based text analysis methodology, this paper attempts to understand the perceptions and sentiments of Nigerians and Ethiopians on Chinese infrastructure projects. For this purpose, we choose Nigeria and Ethiopia as important destinations of Chinese investment in Africa. Africa is not only rich in natural resources; it also possesses a young population that makes the bulk of the working force. Despite its rapid GDP growth and growing urbanization, the continent is still entangled in the midst of underdevelopment, poverty and an acute lack of infrastructure to stimulate and sustain this economic development. China’s investment in the continent is trying to tackle this infrastructure bottleneck by investing in the building of infrastructures such as roads, railways, ports and highways. The results show some overall positive popular sentiments towards Chinese infrastructure projects from both countries. To conclude, we argue for a need of more scrutiny from the parts of the leadership in Africa given the potential issues related to Chinese infrastructure projects in Africa.

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The Chinese infrastructural fix in Africa: lessons from the Sino-Zambian ‘road bonanza’

Cited by 27 publications

References 35 publications

Infrastructure and the Politics of African State Agency: Shaping the Belt and Road Initiative in East Africa

Infrastructure and the Politics of African State Agency: Shaping the Belt and Road Initiative in East Africa

From ‘debt diplomacy’ to donorship? China’s changing role in global development

A Sentiment Based Text Analysis of the Perception of Chinese Infrastructure Development in Africa: Cases from Nigeria and Ethiopia

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