Having, Giving, Taking: Understanding China’s Development Cooperation in Africa

Abstract In the last decade or so China has re-emerged as an important actor in the international development cooperation arena at a time when development cooperation was undergoing reflection and critical revaluations in many traditional donor countries. The academic and policy debate on China's re-emergence as a donor has been divided between proponents who saw a new hope for the developing world, where lessons for the developing world could be drawn. Opponents or critics, on the other hand, posed a critical stand against China’s non-adherence to the common standards, principles and practices of traditional donors considered fruits of decades long international development experience. However, despite a myriad of publications on China international development policy and practice, much is still needed to fully grasp its architecture. How is it developed? What motivates it? How's does China conceptualize foreign aid? Does it draw from its own experience as an aid recipient and as a developing country? What are some of the practical implications of Chinese foreign aid? This thesis seeks to answer these questions by drawing heavily on Chinese sources, bringing together various complementary literatures supported by field research in Uganda, a developing country and recipient of Chinese foreign aid and investment and a trade partner. Although, various complementary analytical frameworks were used, the binding concept revolves around the role interaction of the domestic and international forces in shaping China’s foreign aid policy and practices. This contributes to the literature on Chinese foreign aid by filling the gap in the literature on how domestic political forces and their interaction with the international context shape Chinese foreign aid policy and practices. This will be useful when analyzing future trends as the composition and interaction of domestic political forces change, and situations in international context develop

New Donors and Old Practices: Does the Rise of China Challenge Aid Effectiveness?

The rise of China in international development has raised much concern, with major questions regarding the future of a ‘Paris Consensus’ in the face of major emerging donors being hesitant about joining fora dominated by OECD countries, and about a ‘Beijing Consensus’ overtaking a ‘post-Washington Consensus’. The fierce and popular critique of aid as articulated by Dambisa Moyo adds an additional and critical spark to these debates. This paper contextualizes the differences between ‘old’ and ‘new’ approaches to aid, to enhance the understanding of differences, similarities, and potentials for collaboration. A main hypothesis is that the differences across old approaches (say, US vs UK) are as large as differences between Chinese and UK approaches. Moreover, while the debate has stressed that new donors tend to remain outside the consensus established by donors grouped within the DAC, the implementation of Paris principles by DAC donors themselves has remained limited, and it is important to understand the national politics and institutional constraints within donor countries, old and new. The emergence of new donors has partly led and partly coincided with a re-politicisation of aid, and for the study of aid effectiveness assessing whether aid worked it is critical to understand these dynamics. For this purpose, the paper makes three arguments

The Politics of Aid Revisited: A Review of Evidence on State Capacity and Elite Commitment

Based on a systematic review of the impacts of aid on both state capacity for, and elite commitment to, sustainable development, we conclude that a better understanding of the impact of aid has the potential to directly inform practices of international development. This requires better empirical insight into how donors interact with formal and informal institutions in the countries where they work, particularly in aid-dependent countries. Furthermore, it is critical to see aid as part of a spectrum of international exchange, rather than in isolation. This implies a significant research agenda, combining quantitative and in-depth qualitative analysis, as there are barriers for more informed political analysis to inform practice; and little analysis exists of how donors, even where they do start adopting a political perspective, do influence local institutions and the people they work with. The paper develops this conclusion through a review of existing large research programmes on politics of international development, the role and impact of donors political economy approaches, a scan of the literature on aid modalities, and a brief review of the practices of emerging donors, particularly China

New light on Chinese enterprises in Africa: Findings from a recent survey of Chinese firms in Kampala, the capital of Uganda

Abstract In this paper five issues will be analyzed. In the first place that no separation is made between providing Chinese aid, developing trade relations with China and starting investment activities in Africa. Secondly, is it true that the Chinese government helps Chinese entrepreneurs to get started in Africa. In the third place it is often suggested that Chinese entrepreneurs start after a Chinese aid project or construction job. Another issue is the presence of Chinese traders: what is the role of Chinese whole sale or retail traders in Africa and why are these entrepreneurs so successful? Finally we will look at employment and environmental issues in which Chinese entrepreneurs are said to be involved. Based on interviews of 42 Chinese enterprises in Uganda evidence is presented concerning what types of enterprises moved into Uganda and for which reason? We will analyze to what extent Chinese enterprises employ Chinese workers and Ugandan managers. What motivates these Chinese entrepreneurs to invest in Uganda and how do they deal with the challenges such as labour and environmental legislation? Which problems do they face? The relations between Uganda and China are influenced by the influx of Chinese enterprises in Uganda and the issues this raises. African countries are sensitive to the issue of Chinese companies competing with African firms. Many African countries question whether Chinese (small) traders are necessary to sell Chinese products in Africa. To what extent are 'wholesale' shops in Uganda in fact involved in retail business and how does Uganda react to this? The analysis challenges some of the generalizations concerning China's presence in Africa. We conclude that Uganda is becoming increasingly proactive in its relationship and tries to increase the contribution of Chinese enterprises to the Ugandan economy, while defining the terms on which Chinese citizens can come to work in Uganda

New Light on Chinese enterprises in Africa

In this paper five issues will be analyzed. In the first place that no separation is made between providing Chinese aid, developing trade relations with China and starting investment activities in Africa. Secondly, is it true that the Chinese government helps Chinese entrepreneurs to get started in Africa. I

Characteristics of effective psychological treatments of depression: A metaregression analysis.

Although many meta-analyses have shown that psychological therapies are effective in the treatment of depression, no comprehensive metaregression analysis has been conducted to examine which characteristics of the intervention, target population, and study design are related to the effects. The authors conducted such a metaregression analysis with 83 studies (135 comparisons) in which a psychological treatment was compared with a control condition. The mean effect size of all comparisons was 0.69 (95% confidence interval = 0.60-0.79). In multivariate analyses, several variables were significant: Studies using problem-solving interventions and those aimed at women with postpartum depression or specific populations had higher effect sizes, whereas studies with students as therapists, those in which participants were recruited from clinical populations and through systematic screening, and those using care-as-usual or placebo control groups had lower effect sizes

Whole-genome sequencing reveals host factors underlying critical COVID-19

Critical COVID-19 is caused by immune-mediated inflammatory lung injury. Host genetic variation influences the development of illness requiring critical care1 or hospitalization2–4 after infection with SARS-CoV-2. The GenOMICC (Genetics of Mortality in Critical Care) study enables the comparison of genomes from individuals who are critically ill with those of population controls to find underlying disease mechanisms. Here we use whole-genome sequencing in 7,491 critically ill individuals compared with 48,400 controls to discover and replicate 23 independent variants that significantly predispose to critical COVID-19. We identify 16 new independent associations, including variants within genes that are involved in interferon signalling (IL10RB and PLSCR1), leucocyte differentiation (BCL11A) and blood-type antigen secretor status (FUT2). Using transcriptome-wide association and colocalization to infer the effect of gene expression on disease severity, we find evidence that implicates multiple genes—including reduced expression of a membrane flippase (ATP11A), and increased expression of a mucin (MUC1)—in critical disease. Mendelian randomization provides evidence in support of causal roles for myeloid cell adhesion molecules (SELE, ICAM5 and CD209) and the coagulation factor F8, all of which are potentially druggable targets. Our results are broadly consistent with a multi-component model of COVID-19 pathophysiology, in which at least two distinct mechanisms can predispose to life-threatening disease: failure to control viral replication; or an enhanced tendency towards pulmonary inflammation and intravascular coagulation. We show that comparison between cases of critical illness and population controls is highly efficient for the detection of therapeutically relevant mechanisms of disease

Whole-genome sequencing reveals host factors underlying critical COVID-19

Critical COVID-19 is caused by immune-mediated inflammatory lung injury. Host genetic variation influences the development of illness requiring critical care1 or hospitalization2,3,4 after infection with SARS-CoV-2. The GenOMICC (Genetics of Mortality in Critical Care) study enables the comparison of genomes from individuals who are critically ill with those of population controls to find underlying disease mechanisms. Here we use whole-genome sequencing in 7,491 critically ill individuals compared with 48,400 controls to discover and replicate 23 independent variants that significantly predispose to critical COVID-19. We identify 16 new independent associations, including variants within genes that are involved in interferon signalling (IL10RB and PLSCR1), leucocyte differentiation (BCL11A) and blood-type antigen secretor status (FUT2). Using transcriptome-wide association and colocalization to infer the effect of gene expression on disease severity, we find evidence that implicates multiple genes—including reduced expression of a membrane flippase (ATP11A), and increased expression of a mucin (MUC1)—in critical disease. Mendelian randomization provides evidence in support of causal roles for myeloid cell adhesion molecules (SELE, ICAM5 and CD209) and the coagulation factor F8, all of which are potentially druggable targets. Our results are broadly consistent with a multi-component model of COVID-19 pathophysiology, in which at least two distinct mechanisms can predispose to life-threatening disease: failure to control viral replication; or an enhanced tendency towards pulmonary inflammation and intravascular coagulation. We show that comparison between cases of critical illness and population controls is highly efficient for the detection of therapeutically relevant mechanisms of disease

'Nieuwe' spelers, oude praktijken? Opkomende landen en Afrika

__Abstract__ In toenemende mate investeren de grote opkomende economieen door midel van hulp en handel in Afrika. De traditionele westerse donoren volgen deze ontwikkeling met argwaan. In Afrika wordt de belangstelling van nieuwe actoren juist overwegend positief ontvangen, omdat het tot een diversificatie van hulpstromen leidt. Bieden de investeringen van deze landen Afrika een nieuwe toekomst of gaat het uiteindelijk toch om voortzetting van oude westerse praktijken? De PDF van dit artikel is met toestemming van de redactie overgenomen uit de Internationale Spectator, maandblad voor internationale politiek, uitgegeven door de Koninklijke Van Gorcum te Assen namens het Nederlands Instituut voor Internationale Betrekkingen ‘Clingendael’ te Den Haag.