The thesis is divided into eight chapters. Chapter two contextualises and theorises African agency by locating it from two entry points: top-down and bottom-up approaches. A top-down approach is defined as the role and impact of external actors on Africa’s international relations and internal development, while bottom-up implies the role of African actors in shaping and impacting upon the practice of global politics and development trajectories. The chapter proceeds with a discussion of the limitation of applying the Weberian definition of the state to the African state—which inevitably can be convolved and conflated with the failed state narrative. As such, I locate the definition of the African state in the context of broader state- society relations. The chapter also discusses the rise of emerging economies and how their presence revives triangulation and leverage power for African actors. I then discuss the conceptual and analytical considerations of African agency looking at the definitional elements and how power mediates such aspects. The chapter finishes off by elaborating on the aspects of negotiations and modalities of engagement.
Chapter three discusses the methodological imperatives of study. First, the discussions are centred on the epistemological and ontological paradigms of the study. The study adopts critical realism and interpretivism as they help explain how I construct and view what
20 According to Clifford (2015). Xinjiang Goldwind: The Profits Are blowing in the Wind, Available at https://www.forbes.com/sites/mclifford/2015/08/12/xinjiang-goldwind-the-profits-are-blowin-in-the-wind/#4f05d8df2283,
Goldwind is not a state-owned enterprise (SOE), but the company enjoys central government support as well the regional Xinjiang government. China Three Gorges and its subsidiary, China Three Gorges New Energy have significant shares in Goldwind. China Three Gorges is wholly owned by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC).
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constitutes reality or knowledge around Africa (Ethiopia)-China relations. Second, I discuss the methodological framework underpinning the study. This includes process tracing, negotiating fieldwork, data and the methods for data collection and analysis. Third, I discuss rigour and validity and how positionality positively or negatively affected my data collection and analysis. I (de)construct the ‘outsider but insider’ positionality through the process of reflexivity which allowed me to carefully negotiate the politics of knowledge production on Africa-China relations. Contextual mediation of this debate is essential so as to scrutinise and reveal “how Chinese knowledge of Africa and African knowledge of China is produced and assimilated […] [and] how this newer knowledge feeds into government policies, Western discourse and understanding, and attitudes and experiences on the ground” (Strauss & Saavedra, 2009, p. 551). Fourth, the chapter discusses the challenges encountered during the fieldwork and the research ethics. The last section offers a chapter summary.
Chapter four provides the background of the study focusing on Ethiopia’s state-society relations after 1991 when the EPRDF under Meles Zenawi came into power. The chapter begins by tracing the Ethiopian social, political and economic development policy and how such development orientation laid the foundations for Ethiopia-China cooperation. The second part of the chapter discusses the factors which condition Ethiopia's agential dimensions when engaging with external powers. It is within these determinants that one sees Ethiopia being able to influence the interaction patterns and dynamics with not only China but any other foreign power. The third and final section of the chapter discusses Ethiopia-China relations post 1991.
The fifth chapter is premised on the first sub-question, which explores why Ethiopian and Chinese stakeholders financed and developed Adama wind farms. It proceeds by responding to the drivers of both Ethiopian and Chinese actors in financing and developing the wind farms. In the same section, I also explore why the Ethiopian government at that time decided to build wind farms and not other renewable energy sources. The second part of the chapter examines the motivations for Ethiopian and Chinese actors in financing and developing the two wind farms. The third part of the chapter explores the factors which influenced the Ethiopian government to award the contract to the Chinese. The final section discusses the summary of the chapter.
Chapter six responds to the second sub-question of the study which explores engagement modalities and negotiation processes between and among Ethiopian and Chinese actors in the financing and development of the Adama wind farms. It begins by tracing the engagement modalities at the negotiation tables, followed by tracing the negotiations by looking at the actors involved in the process. The third part of the chapter opens the black boxes through an
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interrogation of the project pre-planning, contractual terms and conditions, implementation and management of the projects. The last section of the chapter discusses the empirical parameters of Ethiopian agency.
The seventh chapter addresses the final sub-question of the study which seeks to understand the engagement outcomes and local development impacts of the two wind farms. It underscores how and in what ways the Ethiopian domestic regulatory and governance structures were responsible in mediating the engagement outcomes and development impacts. Chapter eight discusses the thesis’ main findings and offers key contributions, limitations of the study, lessons for policy and directions for future research. The appendix sections contain the interview questions used for the study.
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CHAPTER TWO: CONTEXTUALISING AND THEORISING AFRICAN AGENCY
2.0 Introduction
This thesis’ approach to African agency in Africa-China engagement draws from international relations and social theory lenses grounded in policy debates, historical, theoretical and empirical literature. Existing studies on Africa’s international relations predominantly put more emphasis on analysing how external actors’ political, economic, social, military and technological power define and influence the way they interact with Africa. External powers are presented as dominant and being in charge of the deals with Africa. The central argument of this thesis is that African countries’ engagement patterns with external stakeholders, including China, are not entirely conditioned by existing asymmetrical power structures (de Bruijn, van Dijk, & Gewald, 2007). To understand this, it is necessary to empirically locate the areas where African countries innovatively find ways to influence their engagements with external actors. As such, I “treat the commitment to examining agency as an ontological presupposition and thus allow space to investigate empirically the different interpretations and choices made by African actors in any particular context” (Murray-Evans, 2015, p. 26).
The purpose of this chapter is to contextualise and theorise African agency. The first section begins by discussing agency in wider empirical and theoretical literature of Africa’s external engagements. While this literature is “non-exhaustive and more ground needs to be covered” (Brown, 2012, p. 1890), it provides a foundation to frame African agency in the context of Africa-China engagements. The second section analytically defines the African state and locates it within a sociological reading of state-society relations. The third section unpacks African agency in the context of emerging Global South economies such as China, and how they reinvigorate the position of Africa in international relations. In doing so, I seek to understand how changes in the global configuration and distribution of power enable or constrain African actors to exercise agency. This presents an opportunity to move away from material power structure asymmetries to more narrative based, discursive and often ambiguous forms of agency operationalised by African agents to meaningfully, consciously and sometimes unconsciously exert influence. The fourth section discusses the conceptual and analytical considerations of agency which I will use in the later chapters to analyse the empirical case studies. I proceed with a discussion of resources and repertoires of power weaved with interests, ideas, values, preferences and ideology as important variables that influence how actors engage with one another. The final section of the chapter discusses the processes of negotiations and modalities of engagement which are empirical zones where engagements occur.
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