China and African Agency

The South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) published in September 2018 a paper titled "In the Driver's Seat? African Agency and Chinese Power at FOCAC, the AU and the BRI" by Cobus van Staden, SAIIA, Chris Alden, London School of Economics and Political Science, and Yu-Shan Wu, PhD candidate at the University of Pretoria.

This paper argues that for Africa to increase its agency--that is, its ability to make independent decisions and strengthen its bargaining power--the continent first needs to unpack the nature of African decision-making in the China-Africa relationship. It then explores how African agency has been conceptualized in the past by comparing those ideas of agency with China's relationship with the African Union, and Africa's relationship with China's Belt and Road Initiative.