Domestic Constructions of China in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Comparative Study of Ghana and Kenya
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(Thesis)
Date
2022
Authors
Dankwah, Kwaku Opoku
Editors
Advisors
Tubilewicz, Czeslaw
Torresi, Tiziana
Torresi, Tiziana
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Thesis
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Abstract
Africa-China relations have grown exponentially over the last two decades marked by China displacing Western powers as Africa’s biggest economic partner. Thus far, scholarly assessments of the relationship have been predominantly Sino-centric, paying little attention to the African agency. They have also been state-centric, considering both China and African states as unitary actors. Such approaches tell us little, if anything, about African perspectives on China relations, including intra-African contests over the nature and extent of such relations. This thesis addresses these existing shortcomings by investigating African discourses on China that provide a deeper understanding of the complex character of the Africa-China relationship. Using Ghana and Kenya as two case studies representative of sub-Saharan Africa, this thesis explores sub-Saharan constructions of China. It outlines the contests among diverse state and non-state actors in defining what China represents to the region and how it compares to Western powers. The thesis argues that sub-Saharan perspectives about China reflect domestic divisions about the objectives and means of achieving development as African countries leverage their natural resources in harnessing the financial wherewithal of wealthier great powers, while cognisant of their competition for influence over Africa. Consequently, such domestic contests participate in shaping African policies on China interactions. This study reveals that the economic and ideational aspects of Africa-China relations do not have an intrinsic meaning of their own. Rather, various African actors assign the meanings, constructing China in either positive or negative terms. Such constructions not only help justify particular governmental policies towards the PRC, but also ensure that both policymakers and the wider public remain acutely aware of the whole range of possible understandings of Chinese activities in Africa and related policy options. Furthermore, they create spaces for public debates not only about specific policies towards China, but also about sovereignty, objectives and forms of African political and socio-economic development. By examining domestic African contestations over China, this study challenges the statecentric approach that dominates existing analyses of Africa-China relations. In doing so, it marks not only a constructivist turn in the scholarship, but also calls for a more nuanced approach to the study of Africa’s foreign relations. Finally, it questions the notions of a win-win and South-South cooperation, suggesting that exploitative, hierarchical relations, conventionally associated with North-South divide, may continue in the context of South-South relations.
School/Discipline
School of Social Sciences
Dissertation Note
Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Social Sciences,2022
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