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- Convenors:
-
Maria Dyveke Styve
(University of Bergen)
Ushehwedu Kufakurinani (University of Sussex)
Ingrid Harvold Kvangraven (King's College, London)
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- Formats:
- Papers
- Stream:
- Opening up the Market
- Location:
- Jim Burrows, Meeting Room 113
- Sessions:
- Thursday 20 June, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
This panel will interrogate the legacies of Samir Amin's work, to examine the relevance of his ideas about dependency, eurocentrism and delinking in today's financialised global economy. The panel will be part of a book project on the legacies of Samir Amin's work.
Long Abstract:
This panel interrogates forms of subordination and dependency in the global economy, taking the work of the late Samir Amin as an intellectual starting point. How have structural conditions changed within the global economy, for instance with increasing financialisation and the rise of China? Can Amin's contribution to dependency theory and his notion of delinking be fruitfully rethought within the context of financialisation? What are alternative and new forms of dependency theory that have emerged since its initial inception? Do(es) dependency theory(ies) still have any relevance for understanding the global economy?
This panel invites papers that engage with the intellectual openings provided by Samir Amin's work, including dependency theory, Eurocentrism, and the relationship between theory and political practice. Panellists will also be invited to submit their papers for consideration in a book project on the legacies of Samir Amin's work.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Thursday 20 June, 2019, -Paper short abstract:
This paper will examine Sino-Africa trade relations using the case study of Angola building on Amin's argument of 'unilateral adjustment' and that the center grows at the expense of the periphery. The case of Angola reveals two major issues that confirm Amin's views.
Paper long abstract:
This paper will examine Sino-Africa trade relations using the case study of Angola building on Amin's arguments of 'unilateral adjustment' and that the center grows at the expense of the periphery. The case of Angola reveals two major issues that confirm Amin's views. Firstly, China is one of the fastest growing economies in the world whilst Angola ranks in the bottom in terms of child mortality, public expenditure on education and in terms of health expenditure. Secondly due to the nature of governance in Angola, she could not secure donors or investments from the Paris Club and/ the IMF. Relations were strained in the mid-1990s when Luanda (former president) repeatedly backed out of IMF reform programs and refused to provide the IMF with basic economic statistics. After the civil war in 2002 she therefore looked to China and got involved with China Sonangol. This company has been accused of having become a State within a State because of its heavy involvement in government. The Angolan government has to adjust and meet the demands of the Chinese. Though his ideas mainly focused on the global north and the global south, the case of China in Africa demonstrates the elasticity and applicability of Amin's views as they become more and more and relevant today especially with the rise of the discourse of a Chinese imperialism in Africa.
Paper short abstract:
This paper unpacks the different strands and concepts within what we call the "dependency school," in order to clarify what the internal debates have been, what its intellectual origins are, and on what grounds it has been delegitimized. We propose a repackaging that retains its core strengths.
Paper long abstract:
Confusion about what constitutes "dependency theory" and to what extent it has been discredited as a framework abounds. This paper unpacks the different strands and concepts within what we call the "dependency school," in order to clarify what the internal debates have been, what its intellectual origins are, and on what grounds it has been delegitimized. A dividing line is drawn between the structuralist and neo-Marxist strands of the dependency school, although there is variety within each strand and even some overlap between them. We assess the validity of external critiques of the dependency school and what a revised form of dependency theory might look like that retains its core strengths, while addressing some of the valid critiques that have been directed towards it.
Paper short abstract:
Samir Amin has played a critical role in shaping academia in the discourse of dependency. His ideas on international capitalism and core-periphery relations have had wide application and followers. This study proposes to test some of Samir Amin's ideas on the sino ZImbabwe relations.
Paper long abstract:
Zimbabwe- Chinese relations can be dated as way back as the pre-colonial period in the 13th century. Archaeologists, for example, have unearthed evidence of trade relations between the Chinese and the people on the Zimbabwean plateau. In contemporary history, the Chinese have been known to help the Zimbabwe people to fight the liberation struggle. In the far more recent years the Chinese have established a stronger linker that is far more economic and their presence in the country can be felt in different economic spaces that include mining, retail and even agriculture. This relationship has triggered scholars to interpret the meanings of such a relationship which, more ways than one, has duplicated the dependency on the West and replicated core-periphery relations. It is within this context that this study seeks to test Samir Amin's on international capitalism using the case of SINO-Zimbabwe relations. Samir Amin has played a critical role in shaping academia in the discourse of dependency. His ideas on international capitalism, core-periphery relations, historical materialism have had wide application and followers. Equally, there have also received a fair share of criticism.
Paper short abstract:
This paper explores Ethiopia-China engagement in the financing and development of Adama wind farms in Ethiopia and questions explicitly the role of Ethiopians in conditioning the financing and project implementation decision making patterns.
Paper long abstract:
Despite the long-standing tradition in the mainstream media, policy and academic scholarship on China's role in investing and providing with development finance in Africa, the majority of these narratives assume China dominates the decision making processes around the investments. We challenge these assertions with contextual reference to Ethiopia-China cooperation in wind energy infrastructure financing where Ethiopia is seen to be more active in conditioning the investment decision making patterns. Located in the 'developmental state', 'authoritarian approaches to development' and African agency—implying the ability of African (Ethiopian) governments and their people to meaningfully and purposefully engage with the external (Chinese) stakeholders to their benefit, we firstly investigate the drivers and motivations for Ethiopia to outstandingly attract development finance from China for its wind energy infrastructure. Secondly, we interrogate agency on deal brokering and project management processes as they are definitive stages regarding possible outcomes of the financing. By focusing on these issues, it allows us to develop a new reading on politics of attracting development finance by African (Ethiopia) countries precisely in this era of dwindled hard infrastructure financing by traditional donors and western development partners.