African Understandings of Chinese Involvement: Power, Practices, and Prospects (Routledge Contemporary Africa)

This book brings together leading African scholars to consider China’s impact on Africa’s political, economic, cultural, environmental, and social spaces.

China’s power and influence on the African continent have increased exponentially in recent decades, providing a range of political and economic goods and services. African governments have opened their markets to Chinese goods and services and, in turn, allowed China easy access to their raw materials. This book asks whether the relationship is mutually beneficial or asymmetrical, with China at risk of becoming a new imperialist. Drawing together African scholars from at home and abroad, the book examines a range of Beijing-led activities and projects, and considers their impact on states and societies on the continent, and on their growth and development. Overall, the book presents a nuanced African perspective on the immediate and long-term implications of the Sino-African relationship.

Providing an important critical evaluation of China’s programs and projects in Africa, this book will be an important resource for researchers of Africa-China relations and of global international relations more broadly.

Sabella O. Abidde is a professor of political science and a member of the graduate faculty at Alabama State University. He holds a B.A. in international relations and an M.Sc. in educational administration from Saint Cloud State University, Minnesota; an M.A. in political science from Minnesota State University, Mankato; and a Ph.D. in African Studies, World Affairs, Public Policy, and Development Studies from Howard University. He has edited and co-edited several volumes, including Xenophobia and Nativism in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean (Routledge, 2023). Professor Abidde is a lifetime member of the African Studies and Research Forum (ASRF), the American Association for Chinese Studies (AACS), the Midwest Association for Latin American Studies (MALAS), and the Association of Global South Studies (AGSS), where he currently serves as its vice president/president-elect. He is a 2023 MOFA Taiwan Fellow and a 2024 Carnegie African Diaspora Fellow.

Dramane G. Thiombiano is from Burkina Faso, West Africa. He is an assistant professor at the National Yun-Lin University of Science and Technology. He previously taught in the International Master Program in Asia-Pacific Affairs at National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, where he earned his master’s degree (2010) and Ph.D. (2016). His research interests include entrepreneurship, emerging market analysis, China-Africa relations, Taiwan’s political economy, cross-strait relations, and Taiwan-Africa relations. His most recent publications include: The Beijing Consensus versus the Washington Consensus in Africa: Why Is the Chinese Model Gaining Ground in Africa? (Sun Yat-sen Journal of Humanities, 2016), The Impact of China on the Agency and Negotiating Power of African Countries: Cases of Angola and Niger (African Journal of Political Science and International Relations, 2020); and A Sentiment Based Text Analysis of the Perception of Chinese Infrastructure Development in Africa (International Journal of Social Science Studies, 2022).