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- Convenors:
-
Didier Péclard
(University of Geneva)
Antoine Kernen (University of Lausanne)
Guive Khan-Mohammad (University of Geneva/University of Edinburgh)
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- Stream:
- Economy and Development
- Sessions:
- Thursday 13 June, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
This panel reflects on the renewed interest for models of state-led development planning and policies in Africa. Rather than focusing on the models themselves and their transferability, it takes as an entry point the variegated ways in which African states and governments appropriate them.
Long Abstract:
Over the past decades, one of the major "disruptions" in the field of development in Africa has been the entry into the fray of purportedly "new" international players such as China, followed by Brazil, India, Japan and others. This has created new opportunities of investments for African governments, especially for large infrastructure projects that had remained on hold during the structural adjustment decades. But this also contributed to a paradigm shift in the development rhetoric of the IFIs and traditional Western donors of the post-Washington consensus era, away from the monolithic neo-liberal "catechism" of the "minimal state" approach that was preached throughout the 1980s and 1990s. It also opened up the "market" for development models, thereby paving the way for a renewed interest for state-interventionist development policies and state-led development planning.
This panel proposes to focus on these "new" development models. But, while research has tended to look at the models themselves and their "transferability" (as in the literature on policy transfers or, more recently, on "travelling models"), we propose to take as an entry point the ways in which African states and governments have appropriated them, played with them and combined them with others. In particular, papers should concentrate (1) on the elaboration of development plans and the flurry of strategies for Africa's "rise" (émergence), (2) on African development cadres, their biographies, for instance on the growing number of them who are trained at Chinese universities, and (3) on how this relates to strategies of power in African states.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Thursday 13 June, 2019, -Paper short abstract:
The reactivation of the silk roads by Chinese leader Xi Jinping is an ambitious project dating from 2013, intended to cover the entire world from the Chinese trade channels.
Paper long abstract:
In Djibouti, therefore, Xi Jinping decided to set up a Chinese military base abroad, in one of the busiest trade routes in the world in order to sustain his huge investments.
Paper short abstract:
This presentation examines how Brazilians shaped Angola's idea of state - understood here as the symbolic practices meant to ensure the legitimacy of state domination. It argues that Brazilians reinvented the narrative of the state in an attempt to perpetuate and relegitmise the Dos Santos' regime.
Paper long abstract:
Mostly concerned with its diplomatic and commercial underpinnings, existing studies on Brazil-Angola relations in tend to analyse Brazil merely as a "new" international player interested in oil, mining and infrastructure, with little attention paid to the interconnections between Brazilian and Angolan state and private sector actors and what they mean for the nature of politics in Angola.
The gap in the literature is significant, for Brazilian established far more than trade deals and joint-ventures: under the Lula government, Brazilians have contributed to shape the very narrative of state development of Dos Santos, through the actions of political agents, corporations and even marketing experts. To fill this lacuna, this presentation offers a case study on how Brazilians shaped Angola's idea of state - understood here as the symbolic practices meant to ensure the legitimacy of state domination. Drawing on a wide range of untapped official documents as well as interviews, it argues that Brazilians reinvented the narrative of the Angolan state in order to perpetuate and relegitmise the Dos Santos' regime. The failure of this unique project partly explains why the Dos Santos regime unraveled far faster than everyone expected.
Paper short abstract:
Turkey has been developing a new pattern in the field of soft power politics in Africa. This paper will discuss a number of significant questions regarding the Turkish NGOs' involvement in Somalia and explore the main dynamics and the reasons behind its involvement.
Paper long abstract:
Turkey has been one of the most visible actors in African politics in recent years. It has not only developed its relations with Africa in the fields of high politics, but also strengthened its relations in the fields of low politics. Turkey has increased the number of its diplomatic missions across the continent from 12 to 41. At the same time, while Turkey's total trade with Africa was around 5 billion USD in 2003, it reached to 21 billion USD in 2018. In addition, Turkey opened its largest overseas military base in Somalia in 2015.
Turkey has been developing a new pattern in the field of soft power politics in Africa. Somalia has been a unique place for the Turkish NGOs that have been actively interacted with the local people. Importantly, Turkish NGOs are not only providing humanitarian aid in Somalia, but also implementing a set of significant initiatives creating job opportunities for the local people and supporting the small-scale enterprises. Why have been Turkish NGOs actively and fearlessly involved in the social projects in Somalia that is among the most dangerous countries in the world? What are the forces driving the process of the Turkish NGOs in Somalia? This paper will discuss a number of significant questions regarding the Turkish NGOs' involvement in Somalia and explore the main dynamics and the reasons behind its involvement.