Honors Theses

Date of Award

1-1-2012

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

First Advisor

Michael Harvey

Relational Format

Dissertation/Thesis

Abstract

China’s engagement in Africa represents a radical departure from the modem paradigm of development. To the West, it represents a threat to the “Washington Consensus” and the accepted aid paradigm, but to African countries, the Chinese are providing much desired investment. Due to a paucity of information on this subject, this research aims to consolidate perspectives on this type of investment and identify factors leading to as well as the possible effects of the China-Africa relationship. This is accomplished by contextualizing the China-Africa relationship within a wider discourse on development, and then separating African countries on the basis of total GDP and human development, determining China’s behavior to each of these subsets in regards to aid and investment. This study found no significant variation in Chinese involvement in these subsets, barring the unique relationship of small island nations with China. This study encourages a reconceptualization of the West's perception of the China-Africa relationship and finds China’s involvement in Africa is, firstly, not as focused on resource extraction as previously thought, and secondly, that non-market factors play an important role in China’s relationship with individual African countries.

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