Individual agency in South-South policy transfer: China and Ethiopia’s industrial park development

Abstract

This article process-traces Ethiopia’s adoption and implementation of the industrial park development strategy from the mid 2000s to the late 2010s. How does policy transfer unfold, and what characterizes China’s influence on Ethiopia’s Special Economic Zone (SEZ) strategy? Drawing on extensive interviews conducted during multiple field trips to Ethiopia and China between 2017 and 2023, complemented by secondary sources, we argue that policy transfer involves navigating both structural opportunities—providing incentives and resources for individuals—and individual agency to surmount structural constraints. Contributing to the growing body of literature on South-South policy transfer, our study underscores the pivotal role of individual agency in overcoming prevalent structural constraints within South-South contexts, characterized by fluid power relations and less defined policy transfer networks. Additionally, we emphasize the importance of scrutinizing the agency of host-country actors in their engagements with a rising China, rather than assuming China’s impacts in a deterministic manner. Our detailed documentation offers a nuanced perspective on China’s influence in Ethiopia’s industrialization. We show that primary agency in the policy transfer process should be attributed to Ethiopian actors, whereas the roles of Chinese actors range from initiation, facilitation, and occasionally, reluctant responses in this intricate process.