Paper short abstract:

This papers is about Zambian policy makers views of Chinese Development Assistance in comparison to the 'West'. This research aimed at placing the 'voice' of subaltern agents of the Global South, at the centre of contemporary debates on Globalization and Development.

Paper long abstract:

During the last decade, China has become a significant player in development cooperation investments in the South Saharan African. China's involvement in Africa generated mostly two set of narratives that locates their cooperation as a constructive force for the region's development, while other depicts these initiatives as new versions of imperialism. Here I move beyond this dichotomy and analyse the perception of African's policy maker's about China's development assistance. In this paper it is argue that in order to de-colonized development studies, to research the perceptions of national policy makers seems as an essential task. The findings of the field research conducted in Zambia in 2016 shows, that China's popularity among Zambian development policy makers rest upon China's bilateral understating of development cooperation and the flexibility that Chinese capitalism have to adapt to local elite's interest. There is no doubt that there are winners and losers in this relation. However, the complexities of this relation are beyond simplistic narratives about new imperialisms or partners for development.