MATTERS OF STATE: POLITICS, GOVERNANCE, AND AGENCY IN CHINA-AFRICA ENGAGEMENT

THE 4TH ANNUAL CHINA-AFRICA RESEARCH INITIATIVE (CARI) CONFERENCE, WAS HELD ON APRIL 19 & 20, 2018 AT THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL STUDIES (SAIS) IN WASHINGTON DC. 

DAY 1 - Thursday, April 19, 2018

8:30 – 9:00  Sign-in and coffee

9:00 – 9:05  Welcome: Vali NASR, SAIS Dean

9:05 – 9:15  Introduction: Deborah BRÄUTIGAM, SAIS-CARI Director

9:15 – 11:00  PANEL 1:  Africa, China and the West

Chair: Amb. David H. SHINN, George Washington University

Panelists:

Christine HACKENESCH, Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik, “The EU and China in African Authoritarian Regimes: Domestic Politics and Governance Reforms”

Haley SWEDLUND, Radboud University Nijmegen, “The Development Dance: How China and Other Donors and Recipients Negotiate the Delivery of Foreign Aid”

Tara MOCK, Michigan State University, “How China Does Nation-Branding in Africa”

Yuan WANG, University of Oxford, “The politics of Sino-Africa infrastructure development: Ethiopia and Kenya”

11:15 – 1:00  PANEL 2:  African Agency and Strategic Bargaining

Chair: Julia STRAUSS, University of London School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)

Panelists:

Folashadé SOULÉ, University of Oxford, “Negotiating with China: Power Asymmetry and African Agency”

Youyi ZHANG, Cornell University, “Political Significance, African Agency, and Risks: Chinese Infrastructure Projects in Kenya and DR Congo.”

Hang ZHOU, University of London School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), “Bring African bureaucracies back in: Negotiations and Implementation of Chinese engagement in Uganda’s Roads Construction Sector”

Maddalena PROCOPIO, London School of Economics / Italian Institute for International Political Studies - “Kenyan Agency Toward the Chinese: the Case of the Health Sector”

1:00 – 2:00  Lunch & Keynote speech

Keynote speech: Daniel LARGE, Central European University, “China's New African Era: The Politics of Peace, Security and Development”

2:00 – 3:45  PANEL 3:  Leadership, Power and Agency, and Regulation

Chair: Deborah BRÄUTIGAM, Johns Hopkins SAIS

Panelists:

Ying XIA, Harvard University, “Policies, Laws and Agencies for Outward Investment Regulation in China”

Barney WALSH, King’s College London, “Museveni's Power and Agency: A Leadership Perspective on China-Africa Relations”

June SUN, Africa's Asian Options (AFRASO), “Emerging markets' Challenges for Participation in Global Internet Governance: The Case of China and South Africa”

Jackson MILLER, Harvard Kennedy School, “Fists of Fury? Kung Fu Master Gao and the Sinification of Malagasy Politics”

4:00 – 5:45  PANEL 4: Civil Society, Populism, and Micropolitics

Chair: Yoon Jung PARK, Georgetown University

Panelists:

Isaac ODOOM, University of Alberta, “Agency in Tight Corners: Chinese Miners and Community Contestation/Collaboration in Ghana”

Lila BUCKLEY, International Institute for Environment and Development, “China's role in Africa's sustainable development from the perspective of natural resources, rural poverty and local governance”

Richard AIDOO, Coastal Carolina University, “Charting the Roots of Anti-Chinese Populism in Africa”

Robert WYROD, University of Colorado Boulder, “In the General’s Valley: China, Africa, and the Limits of Developmental Pragmatism”

5:45 – 6:45  Public Reception

DAY 2 - Friday, April 20, 2018

9:00 - 10:45  PANEL 5: African State Capacity, Bureaucracies, and Norm Diffusion

Chair: Brian LEVY, Johns Hopkins SAIS/University of Cape Town

Panelists:

Hezron MAKUNDI, IDS University of Dar es Salaam, “Negotiating the technological capacity in Chinese engagements: Is the Tanzanian government in the driving seat?”

Tom DE BRUYN, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, “The Promise of Equal Partnerships: Decision-making power and African agency in Chinese, Brazilian and Indian CapacityBuilding Projects”

Lina BENABDALLAH, Wake Forest University, “Do knowledge and technical skills transfers from Chinese experts to African trainees diffuse Chinese norms, values, and models?”

Paul KADETZ, Drew University, “Diplomacy & Dependency: Unpacking the Outcomes of ‘Sustainable’ Self-development in Sino-Malagasy Health Diplomacy”

11:00-12:45  PANEL 6: Understanding China/Africa through Data

Chair: Stephen B. KAPLAN, George Washington University

Panelists:

Jinxu TANG, Brown University, “More than Minerals: A Spatial Analysis of Chinese Aid in Africa”

Matthew DILORENZO, College of William & Mary, “Political Turnover and Chinese Development Cooperation”

Scott WINGO, University of Pennsylvania, “New Types of Financing for a New Financier: The Determinants of Different Forms of Chinese Development Finance in Africa”

David LANDRY, Johns Hopkins SAIS, “Comparing the Determinants of Western and Chinese Development Finance Flows to Africa”

12:45- 1:45  Lunch and Summing Up