Copy the page URI to the clipboard
Mohan, Giles and Lampert, Ben
(2017).
URL: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-africa...
Abstract
Most analyses of China's renewed engagement with Africa treat China as the driving force, and little recognition is given to the role of African agency, especially beyond the level of state elites. This article investigates the extent of African agency in engagements with China and argues that at various levels African actors have negotiated, shaped and even driven Chinese engagements in important ways. Suggesting a theoretical framework that captures agency both within and beyond the state, the article provides an empirical analysis of African agency first by showing how elements of the Angolan state created a hybrid set of institutions to broker Chinese investment projects, and second by discussing how African social actors have influenced and derived benefits from the activities of Chinese migrants in Ghana and Nigeria. While both cases demonstrate African agency, the ability of African actors to exercise such agency is highly uneven, placing African politics at the heart of any understanding of China-Africa relations.
Viewing alternatives
Item Actions
Export
About
- Item ORO ID
- 57021
- Item Type
- Book Section
- ISBN
- 0-19-879429-0, 978-0-19-879429-5
- ISSN
- 1468-2621
- Project Funding Details
-
Funded Project Name Project ID Funding Body Politics of Chinese engagement with African 'development': case studies of Angola and China RES-062-23-0487 ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) Social and political impacts of South-South migration: a comparative analysis of Chinese migrant integration in West Africa RES 062-23-1893 ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) - Keywords
- China-Africa relations; African agency; Chinese foreign investment; Chinese migrants; Angola; Ghana; Nigeria
- Academic Unit or School
-
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) > Social Sciences and Global Studies > Development
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) > Social Sciences and Global Studies
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) - Research Group
- ?? idii ??
- Copyright Holders
- © 2017 Nic Cheesman, Lindsay Whitfield and Carl Death, © 2012 Giles Mohan, © 2012 Ben Lampert
- Depositing User
- Ben Lampert