Railpolitik: Ethiopia’s Rail Ambitions and Chinese Development Finance
Railways have been one of the most visible manifestations of China’s economic statecraft in Africa, where Chinese development finance has supported state-owned enterprises in winning overseas construction contracts.
How Zambia and China Co-Created a Debt ‘Tragedy of the Commons’
In November 2020, Zambia became the first African country to default on its Eurobonds during the COVID-19 pandemic.
China’s Digital Silk Road in Africa and the Future of Internet Governance
This study provides a preliminary analysis of the Digital Silk Road (DSR) entails in Africa. We seek to understand its effectiveness as a policy initiative by measuring its relationship to the Chinese government’s promotion of ‘cyber sovereignty’.
Chinese Resource-Backed Infrastructure Financing Investments: Comparing Governance in Guinea and Ghana
As part of a larger trend of Chinese natural resources—for—infrastructure (RFI) agreements in Africa, Guinea and Ghana signed multi-billion-dollar agreements in 2017 and 2018, respectively, tied to their rich bauxite reserves, the primary source of aluminum.
A Comparative Analysis: Chinese and Indian Exim Bank Finance in Ethiopia
Over the last decade, development assistance has increasingly acknowledged the need to ‘do development differently’ (e.g., Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation — PDIA) and ‘think and work politically,’ rather than proposing one—size-fits—all solutions to solve complex development problems.
International Development Lending and Global Value Chains in Africa
Participating in the production of global production fragmentation by connecting to global value chains (GVCs) provides a ‘golden’ opportunity for developing countries to access international markets and boost economies.
Understanding the Structural Sources of Chinese International Contractors’ Market Power in Africa
In recent years, over 500 Chinese contracting companies have been active in Africa. As a group, they enjoy a dominant position in the African market.
Do Chinese Infrastructure Loans Promote Entrepreneurship in African Countries?
Chinese loans to Africa have been on an upward trajectory for more than a decade. Figure 1 chronicles this growing dependence in the average African loan recipient, where the value of total loans from China rose sharply from about US$ two million in 2000 to a peak of about US$ 552 million in 2016.
Development Finance and Distributive Politics: Comparing Chinese and World Bank Finance in sub-Saharan Africa
When large windfall gains like foreign finance become available to weak states, which parts of the country will receive the newly available resources?
Green Recovery and Green Jobs in Africa: The Case of Ghana
The Ghanaian economy experienced a positive growth trajectory over the past decade; however, the economic structure has not changed as the country continues to depend on natural resource extraction (gold and oil).