Cooperation with the Global South or Realpolitik? China’s economic and technological assistance to the Zimbabwe regime
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32870/mycp.v14i41.923Keywords:
international aid, technological innovation, authoritarianism, realpolitik, China, ZimbabweAbstract
As a result of its successful economic reforms started in 1978, in a few decades China has become a global superpower, endowed with meaningful economic, technological, political and diplomatic capabilities, which converge in an ambitious strategy of international cooperation for development. These capabilities have been projected in countries such as Zimbabwe, a Southern African country that has received significant amounts of Chinese resources to improve information and communication technologies, establish a digital national electoral registry, and implement a facial recognition monitoring network. Notwithsanding the discourse of South-South cooperation, and beyond its possible positive effects in the economic sphere, this work argues that those projects have contributed to the maintenance of the authoritarian regime in Zimbabwe and have strengthened China’s position and the expansion of its companies in Africa.Downloads
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