Is China Building an Empire in Rural Africa?

Abstract

Deborah Brautigam. (2015). Will Africa Feed China? Oxford University Press, Oxford, 248 pp., $27.95 hardcover (ISBN-13: 978-0199396856). The questions of ‘what China wants’ and ‘how it will meet its needs as it continues rising’ motivate a great deal of research in International Relations. As China became the second largest economy in the world and as its economic and strategic influence continue to advance, many scholars have investigated China’s motivations from different approaches. Some scholars perceive China as a revisionist power that seeks to changes the rules of the game (Mearsheimer 2001; Martin Jacques 2009). Other scholars argue that China is ultimately a status quo power that will continue to uphold the existing international order (Johnston 2013; Qin 2014). Yet, as China’s engagement with African countries continues to deepen, the question of China’s motivation narrows down to what China wants in Africa. Deborah Brautigam’s most recent book Will Africa feed China? takes on the task of answering the question about China’s motivations in Africa. The book’s findings are grounded in a tremendous research effort conducted by the author leading a research team to investigate China’s agricultural investments across several African countries. Brautigam’s goal in this book, much like in her previous one The Dragon’s Gift , is to lay bare misperceptions about China’s intentions and strategies in Africa. This book specifically tackles China’s economic policies in Africa and looks into allegations of land grab, food security, and neocolonial settlements by Chinese companies and individuals in Africa. An increase in global food prices in the first decade of the twenty-first century led to the rise of rumors and fears that “China had embarked on a state-sponsored quest to lock up vast tracts of African land to grow food to send home to feed its people” (151). The author’s overarching argument is that such rumors and fears became heuristics and common beliefs in news media reports about Chinese … linaben{at}ufl.edu