The Political Economy of China’s Infrastructure Development in Africa

“Theoretically informed and enriched by fieldwork, this book sheds light on the sometimes-murky depths of Chinese infrastructure engagement in Africa. Using Tanzania and Zambia to ground the research, Zajontz highlights the African state strategies that shaped disparate outcomes. This perceptive analysis has global implications. It will be a useful resource for scholars and policymakers trying to understand the expansion of Chinese capital across Africa, and beyond.”
--Deborah Brautigam, Bernard L. Schwartz Professor of International Political Economy Emerita, Johns Hopkins University

“This is one of the first studies to develop an innovative, synthetic and overarching theoretical framework to understand the Belt and Road Initiative’s operation. It demonstrates its applicability through detailed, definitive and defining empirical research. This is vital reading to understand China’s current and ongoing impacts in Africa.”

--Pádraig Carmody, Professor inGeography, Trinity College Dublin

“This book is a welcome addition to the China-Africa field. Empirically detailed and rich, its real strength lies in its theoretical sophistication and valuable engagement with the notion of Africa’s agency in relations with China. A compelling analysis of China’s evolving role in Africa’s infrastructure economy, the book is sure to be a landmark text in the field.”

--Scarlett Cornelissen, Professor in Political Science, Stellenbosch University

This book sheds light on structural drivers that led to the Chinese omnipresence in African infrastructure markets and offers a strategic-relational approach to the study of African agency in Sino-African infrastructure encounters. Case studies cover the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA), Zambia’s road sector as well as Tanzania’s Bagamoyo port and Standard Gauge Railway. It is shown that African (state) agency in the infrastructure sector is contingent upon dynamic state-society relations and distinct political-economic contexts and constraints. The book problematises contradictions related to infrastructure debt, the emergence of Sino-African public-private partnerships and the intensifying geopolitics-cum-geoeconomics of infrastructure across Africa.

Tim Zajontz is Lecturer in Global Political Economy at the University of Freiburg, Research Fellow in the Centre for International and Comparative Politics at Stellenbosch University and Research Associate in the Second Cold War Observatory.