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Accepted Paper:

Industrial Park development in Ethiopia  
Anna Eriksen Rio (Norwegian Institute of Foreign Affairs)

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Paper short abstract:

This paper will provide ethnographic data from my recent fieldwork on Special Economic Zones (SEZs)/Industrial Park s(IPs) in Ethiopia.

Paper long abstract:

This paper will provide ethnographic data from my recent fieldwork on Special Economic Zones (SEZs)/Industrial Park s(IPs) in Ethiopia. Traditionally, Ethiopia’s system of government has entailed a significant role of the state in regulating the market as well as a significant undermining of private actors. Since around 2010 however, the government has opted for the development of the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) as a model for rapid economic growth. Aided and inspired by Chinese and other South Asian states, this is a strategy that aims to attract foreign direct investment by creating designated physical areas with ready-made factories and working infrastructure that international companies can easily move their production to. Interestingly, within these Zones, the rules of business are different from the rest of the country. Companies operating within the Zones are often exempt from paying taxes, customs duties and operate in a different regulatory environment than the rest of the national territory. Within the Zones, international corporations therefore operate in an environment of exception, and perhaps even in ways that indicates a form of territorialized authority. How public and private actors operate and navigate the development and operation of the IPs in Ethiopia therefore provides an interesting and potentially fruitful case of the evolving and unstable boundary between the public and private spheres in processes of economic development.

Panel Poli05
Exploring public-private development interfaces in Africa
  Session 1 Friday 2 June, 2023, -