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- Convenors:
-
Ornit Avidar
(Ben Gurion University of the Negev)
Sharon Bar-David (Ben Gurion University of the Negev)
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- Chair:
-
Ian Taylor
(University of St Andrews)
- Stream:
- Politics and International Relations
- Location:
- Appleton Tower, Seminar Room 2.11
- Sessions:
- Wednesday 12 June, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
Africa is undergoing a surge in infrastructure development, including elaborate water schemes, railroad lines and power stations. These projects foster hopes, but some fail and disappoint. This panel focuses on local narratives emerging from ruptures. Whose voices are heard, and what do they teach?
Long Abstract:
The African continent is undergoing a surge in infrastructure development, from elaborate water schemes, to railroad lines and power stations. Infrastructure development is a key driver for growth and vital for a sustainable economy. Local populations, leaders and international organizations promote these projects as hopeful signs of a better future. Yet, many of these projects undergo systematic and ongoing ruptures, disruptions and breakdowns. This phenomenon is particularly critical when considering the vast infrastructure deficit of the continent. We seek to highlight the local narratives that emerge when these ruptures occur. What do these narratives teach us about local perspectives on infrastructure development and its failed outcomes? How do local narratives reflect the hopes and frustrations that accompany these initiatives and their disruptions? This panel is based on the conceptual framework proposed by James Scott (1998) regarding the unintended consequences of a national policy. We echo Scott's assertion that some of the world's worst tragedies have been the result of the modern state's failed attempts at advancing grandiose development schemes. Papers will be based on diverse case studies that include a variety of infrastructure initiatives across regions. We seek to draw links between government intensions, subsequent breakdowns, and the variety of perspectives, interpretations, and experiences that are reflected in the narratives that circulate in the aftermath.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Wednesday 12 June, 2019, -Paper short abstract:
I intent to compare three railway projects over time in attempt to establish theoretical framework for how China uses the railway projects as a way of establishing influence in Africa. I would like to find out what really motivates China to conduct so many railroads projects across Africa.
Paper long abstract:
In recent years China has been shifting its economic policy towards Africa. Instead of importing raw material from Africa and exporting finished products, China is focusing on investments in transportation, construction and infrastructure. In this context and in light of the great importance that China is granting the "One Belt One Road" initiative, the significance of African states such as Ethiopia, Tanzania and Kenya is constantly raising. It is indeed well known that an existence of a railway is a crucial factor for the development of an economy. A modern as well as efficient train system exhilarates the economy, creates job opportunities, facilitates transfer of technology, communication and knowledge flow and brings prosperity to an entire region. Tazara, Ethiopia- Djibouti line and Mombasa-Nairobi line, are only three of China's major transportation projects in East Africa. China has been founding and building railways across Africa in order to facilitate the transfer and distribution of Chinese goods across Africa. However there are more reasons to that. In my research I intent to compare three railway projects over time in attempt to establish theoretical framework for how China uses the railway projects as a way of establishing influence in Africa. I would like to find out what really motivates China to conduct so many railroads projects across Africa.
Paper short abstract:
The SM-ADB, the largest water scheme of SIBO, does not provide the volume expected, sparking a blame game among stakeholders. The dynamic of many versions of the truth co-existing, portrays a rupture in responsibility, supervision and accountability measures, generating a lack of sustainability.
Paper long abstract:
The Siaya-Bondo Water and Sanitation Company (SIBO), is the main water service provider in Siaya county, Kenya. The Sidindi Malanga (SM), ADB Flagship Project - SM-ADB scheme, is the largest water scheme of SIBO. The project was devised in 2009, commenced in 2014 and nearly complete in 2018, but found to have many technical problems and complications and currently does not provide the volume expected. A blame game between the many stakeholders has commenced in which each is blamed for their part in the failure. The existence of many claims and several versions about what has gone wrong and who is responsible portrays a rupture in the taking of responsibility, supervision mechanisms, transparency and accountability measures. This dynamic of many versions of the truth co-existing is one that appears over and over in the case study and is a vital dynamic to research, as a component in lack of sustainability of water projects. This presentation is based on 32 interviews of SIBO and Siaya County government officials, users and other stakeholders, as well as visits and 6 observations in SIBO intakes and facilities. Lastly, I analyzed documentation and websites of SIBO, and other stakeholders, for a full picture from all angles of the situation.
Paper short abstract:
This article is about how Kenya's SGR railway influences everyday lives and how it is perceived by those who make use of it. Based on over fifty hours interacting with passengers inside the SGR's carriages and terminals, it provides an account of the train from their perspective.
Paper long abstract:
In 2017, passenger and freight services began running on Kenya's US$3.2 billion Standard Gauge Railway. An infrastructural behemoth connecting Nairobi with the port city of Mombasa, the project has been heavily scrutinized in terms of the soundness of the investment, its economic feasibility, its environmental impact, and its political ownership in the context of Kenya's fiercely contested party politics. This article draws on over fifty hours interacting with passengers inside its carriages and terminals to provide an account of the train from their perspective. It exposes certain features of the project that have elsewhere been neglected: narrative accounts of the railway, at times competing, that reveal how it influences everyday lives, how its political, historical, and regional context are understood by those who ride it, and how it reflects broader state society relations in Kenya. The SGR project was motivated by political considerations as much as by the need for transportation, and the way it is reconstructed in the accounts of those who use it has significant, material implications for future infrastructure development throughout the East African region.