Globalization and Marginalization of Africa: Contextualization of China–Africa Relations

This article examines China–Africa relations by contextualizing China’s economic activities in Africa and interrogating the ramifications of the evolving relations for economic development in the region. China–Africa relations need to be understood as the logical outcomes of the marginalization of Africa in the age of globalization. China is filling the vacuum in Africa created by Western disengagement from the region since the end of the cold war. That Africa is embracing China is informed by the former’s appraisal of the consequences of its colonial experience and the realities of its postcolonial dependent relationships with the West. China–Africa relations embody opportunities and threats. Africa needs to utilize the new architecture of cooperation to maximize benefits and minimize threats. Africa’s economic interest and quest for development could be in conflict with those of China, yet Africa must determine how to leverage the deepening relationship with China to its own advantage.