Paper short abstract:

This paper focuses on the relatively under explored dimension of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as an aspect of investment and political ties between Asia and Africa.

Paper long abstract:

Emergent geo-economic shifts that see Asia being placed centrally in the global economy have major ramifications for the African continent. Indeed, growing trade and investment ties in recent years between African countries and the rising powers from Asia such as China and India have been part of a change in economic trajectory for many states on the continent.

In the scholarly community much attention has been given to the nature and types of investments by the new class of actors from Asia and the consequences they have for Africa's political economy. But there has been little attempt to understand the extent to which these actors might also be subject to expectations about their contributions to development processes on the continent, and how demands for corporate accountability are shaping investment paradigms.

A few very recent events in the international arena suggest that a discourse is arising about the behaviour and impacts of firms from the global South, and that there is an emergent process of institutionalising expectations and norms about these corporations' activities.

This paper focuses on the relatively under explored dimension of corporate social responsibility (CSR) as an aspect of investment and political ties between Asia and Africa.