Philani Mthembu, China and India’s Development Cooperation in Africa: The Rise of Southern Powers, Palgrave Macmillan, 2018

The 21st century has witnessed a marked shift in the trends of development cooperation. The earlier developing countries who received foreign aid from developed countries have now begun to themselves engage in extending foreign aid to fellow developing as well as underdeveloped countries. This book provides an enriching insight into these trends particularly focusing on India and China’s development cooperation in Africa. Philani Mthembu examines the determinants that push China and India to pursue development cooperation activities in Africa. Furthermore, he explores why only certain countries have received more aid as compared to others.

The book consists of seven chapters that are woven together in a logical manner.  In the first chapter, the author provides a context to the research and an overview of the findings. In the next, he emphasises on clarity of concepts, recognizes the discrepancies of present explanations and attempts to standardise the definitions of ‘Southern Powers’ and ‘Development Cooperation’. The third chapter describes in the detail the various development cooperation activities pursued by India and China in the African continent. In the fourth chapter, the author explores the theoretical underpinnings of the concept of ‘development cooperation’ and ‘foreign aid’. The fifth chapter enumerates the methodology of ‘Qualitative Comparative Analysis’ and provides an empirical approach to the research questions. The sixth chapter is a detailed explanation of the determinants of India and China’s development cooperation in Africa while the seventh chapter concludes with the findings as well as hints at other avenues for further research.

Mthembu begins his book by observations on the changing Development Cooperation landscape in the international arena. He notes the proactive role played by the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) in global politics. He argues against referring to them as ‘emerging powers’ and instead addresses these countries as the ‘Southern Powers’. He acknowledges the willingness of BRICS countries to individually and collectively push for reform of global governing institutions; and their ability to set up institutions like NDB (New Development Bank) to fund their own development ideas. Citing the relative nature of global power, i.e., as some countries increase their influence on global politics others experience a diminished influence, he argues that the Southern powers are no longer ‘emerging’ as they have now formed significant poles of power in the multipolar world. The concept also hints that there are minimal values shared among these nations like abstention from interference in internal affairs of another country. With particular focus on India and China in Africa, the book empirically compares and analyzes the motives and interests of India and China’s development cooperation in Africa.

The second chapter clarifies the meaning of “emerging powers” and presents rational arguments for   the irrelevance of this terminology in the contemporary global political scenario. In this context, the author proposes the term ‘Southern Powers’ to describe the rise and re-emergence of certain non-OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries as central players in global politics. He notes that the rise of countries like India, China, Brazil and other emerging economies has been alongside their impressive venture into and growth in providing development cooperation to other countries. The chapter identifies the various explanations of the term ‘Development Cooperation’. The OCED standard definition of ‘Official Development Assistance’ is “official flows to developing countries or multilateral institutions that are disbursed for the promotion of economic development and welfare of developing countries as the main objective.” The author states that this definition limits itself to only concessional loans and grants while omitting other forms of official flows; and that western aid usually come with ‘political conditionalities’. In this backdrop, he proposes a definition for the purposes of this study that allows comparability and is customised to Southern powers. He defines development cooperation by Southern Powers as “official transfers of money, goods, and services to developing countries specifically for their economic development and welfare. These transfers need to come from official government ministries and be concessional in nature.”

In the third chapter, at the outset, the author remarks that the contemporary relationship between India, China and their African counterparts is in fact a reflection of their ancient ties. Highlighting the contrast between Africa-Asia and Africa-Europe ties, he argues that ‘history’ in an important tool in the present ties shared between Africa and the two Asian nations. This chapter elaborates the various development cooperation activities by India and China in Africa and contextualises their engagement. The author refers to China’s ‘White Paper on Foreign Aid in 2011’ and observes that contrary to conventional wisdom, China’s development cooperation includes medical aid, citizen volunteers and scholarships, besides infrastructure development. On the other hand, he notes India’s shift from bilateral projects to regional initiatives like the Pan-African e-Network and TEAM-9 (Technical Economic Approach for Africa Movement). He also observes that India has expanded the type of development cooperation it provides, increased the scope of countries it targets and its attempts to shift from engaging only with English-speaking countries to now engage with Francophone countries as well. The chapter provides an insight into the organisational structure of both countries in providing and financing foreign aid.

The fourth chapter enumerates the various approaches and theoretical underpinnings on the concept of foreign-aid. Stating that monocausal arguments do not explain the complexity of social phenomenon, importance is laid on examining causal conditions and variables that influence development cooperation by countries. The author explores in detail the theoretical foundations of what generates ‘interest’ in a nation-state to engage in development cooperation. He attempts to understand the causation of development cooperation in a combinatorial manner by including four different variables for the study. In this context, he describes the realist theory which captures the ‘strategic interest variable’, liberal theory which captures the ‘economic interest variable’, constructivist approach to include ‘humanitarian ideas and norms’ as the third variable and ‘Diaspora’ as the fourth variable situated in the tradition of realism as it hints at national interest of the donor country. Justifying the use of the four variables, the author acknowledges that for a satisfactory research into the determinants of development cooperation, both material and idealistic explanations have to be considered.

The chapter forms an interesting section of the book as the reader is introduced to exploring the concept of foreign-aid as a ‘trade’, as a ‘bribe’, etc. and juxtaposes it from the perspective of both recipient and donor countries. It is noted that although Southern Powers continue to receive aid, this reality has not prevented them from being active sources of development cooperation themselves for other developing countries. In fact, the shared similarities with impoverished countries, places the southern powers in a better position to help eradicate global poverty. The reader is made to understand that while it is possible for one of the variables to be given greater consideration to offer development cooperation, it is entirely different to argue that it is the only explanatory variable for high level of disbursement. Therefore, the author in the next chapter attempts to weigh and explore these variables in an empirical manner to reach his findings.

In the fifth chapter, the author elaborates and examines the methodology of Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA). He describes the application of QCA in ten steps and manually assesses the cases, their outcomes and conditions. Presenting a refreshing take on the subject, Mthembu pursues a clear methodology explaining the limitations of the study and attempts a scientific empirical approach to the research questions. He considers the development cooperation projects by India and China in Africa during the years 2000 to 2010 taken from AidData’s International Aid data set. The methodology ranks the countries from highest to lowest recipients of development cooperation and operationalises the four causal variables by using Composite Index of National Capabilities (CINC) for the strategic interest variable; trade figures for the economic interest variable; Human Development Index (HDI) for the variable on humanitarian ideas and norms; and finally respective government data available on the Indian and Chinese diaspora present in the African countries.

In the author’s own words, the sixth chapter provides a ‘multiple and conjunctural explanation of the determinants of India and China’s development cooperation in Africa’. In this chapter, each of the outcomes are assessed and the concept of Boolean algebra is applied. The author provides a detailed explanation of the methodology used and an elaborate summary of the findings. The primary finding of the book supported by empirical data is that – when extending development cooperation, while strategic importance of the recipient country was a necessary condition for China, only when it combined with humanitarian needs, did China offer its development cooperation. However, economic importance and diaspora had no role in China’s consideration for development cooperation in Africa. On the other hand, India engaged in development cooperation most only with those countries that were economically important to it and simultaneously displayed high strategic importance as well as humanitarian needs. Through his research findings, the author dismisses the old lenses that ‘India has always been involved most in human capacity development while China was involved mainly in infrastructure’. The author argues that the empirical results of his research support ‘key principles of the narrative on South-South cooperation, namely, the combination of material benefits (win-win approach) and humanitarian interests (solidarity)’.

The seventh chapter of the book is a conclusion with a summary of the findings. The author remarks that the present narrative on development cooperation by India and China is shrouded in mystery and overrun by preconceived ideas of how Southern powers are expected to behave. In this backdrop, the author places the significance of his work to clarify and define a few concepts as well as to base his research on empirical data to add real value to the theme. The author concludes by offering avenues for further research like exploring the aspect of trilateral cooperation by Southern powers in development cooperation.

Overall, the book is an interesting read for those who follow developments in the region of Africa as it provides new insights on the theme of India and China’s development cooperation in Africa. The use of empirical data and methodology, questioning of existing terminologies and introduction of new concepts is a refreshing approach to the subject.

Ms. Sindhu Dinesh is a Research Analyst at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA).