The Railpolitik

The growing presence of China in Africa has drawn increasing scholarly and public attention. With Beijing's announcement of the 'going global' policy in the early 2000s and further institutionalization through the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, Chinese policy banks and state-owned companies have cooperated with African countries to finance and complete multiple infrastructure projects. These projects, despite their 'Chinese-ness,' demonstrate starkly different development trajectories in different countries. Why do some Chinese-financed and constructed projects develop better than others? And what explains the variation in the effectiveness of different African states with regard to public goods delivery? The Railpolitik: Leadership and Agency in Sino-African Infrastructure Development uses three case studies of Chinese-financed and constructed rail projects to explore the broader phenomenon of the fast-progressing relations between China and Africa and to offer insights into African domestic politics. Relying primarily on over 250 in-depth interviews and unpublished documents collected during extensive fieldwork from 2014-2019 in Kenya, Ethiopia, Angola, and China, Yuan Wang traces the trajectories of the Standard Gauge Railway in Kenya, the Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway in Ethiopia, and the Caminho de Ferro de Benguela in Angola, and finds that African political championship is the central factor that determines the outcomes of this type of project. Contrary to the conventional understanding that centralized political institutions such as those in the developmental states are more conducive to rulers' commitment to developmental projects, the book finds that political championship can be generated from leaders' perceived threats of competitive elections in democratic states such as Kenya. These Chinese-financed and constructed projects coincided with African rulers' strategies for political survival, and are therefore instrumentalized politically to demonstrate rulers' performance legitimacy and to fuel their patronage machine. Oxford Studies in African Politics and International Relations is a series for scholars and students working on African politics and International Relations and related disciplines. Volumes concentrate on contemporary developments in African political science, political economy, and International Relations, such as electoral politics, democratization, decentralization, the political impact of natural resources, the dynamics and consequences of conflict, and the nature of the continent's engagement with the East and West. Comparative and mixed methods work is particularly encouraged. Case studies are welcomed but should demonstrate the broader theoretical and empirical implications of the study and...