Africa and China
How Africans and Their Governments are Shaping Relations with China
Edited by Aleksandra W. Gadzala
Publication date:
03 September 2015Length of book:
266 pagesPublisher
Rowman & Littlefield PublishersISBN-13: 9781442237759
The China-Africa relationship has so far largely been depicted as one in which the Chinese state and Chinese entrepreneurs control the agenda, with Africans and their governments as passive actors exercising little or no agency. This volume examines the African side of the relation, to show how African state and non-state actors increasingly influence the China-Africa partnership and, in so doing, begin to shape their economic and political futures.
The influx of public and private sector Chinese actors across the African continent has led to a rise of opportunities and challenges, which the volume sets out to examine. With case studies from Nigeria, Angola, Kenya, South Africa, Ethiopia, and Zambia, and across the technology, natural resource, manufacturing, and financial sectors, it shows not only how African realities shape Chinese actions, but also how African governments and entrepreneurs are learning to leverage their competitive advantages and to negotiate the growing Chinese presence across the continent.
The influx of public and private sector Chinese actors across the African continent has led to a rise of opportunities and challenges, which the volume sets out to examine. With case studies from Nigeria, Angola, Kenya, South Africa, Ethiopia, and Zambia, and across the technology, natural resource, manufacturing, and financial sectors, it shows not only how African realities shape Chinese actions, but also how African governments and entrepreneurs are learning to leverage their competitive advantages and to negotiate the growing Chinese presence across the continent.
After engaging with the chapters of Africa and China…the reader will be hard pressed to maintain the stereotyped image of Chinese agency and African passivity. There is almost a sense of empathy evoked toward the Chinese side engaging in such complex and often difficult terrain. The book clearly sets out what it intends to achieve – namely that the role of Chinese actors on the continent needs to be grasped analytically within the varying regional and national contexts in which they operate. The strong empirical evidence provided for this argument demonstrates that this is not merely an exercise in polemical inversion – but rather an intractable reality that should be heeded by investors, policy-makers and academics alike.