TY - JOUR
T1 - Chinese Eastern Industrial Zone in Ethiopia
T2 - unpacking the enclave
AU - Fei, Ding
AU - Liao, Chuan
N1 - Funding Information:
The research was funded by the China–Africa Research Initiative at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS-CARI) and the Department of Geography, Environment and Society at University of Minnesota. The authors thank Prof. Abdi I. Samatar and two anonymous reviewers for their comments on earlier drafts of the paper. The authors also thank Mekides Kumssa and Yoseph Weldemariam for their assistance in the field. The usual disclaimer applies.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, © 2019 Global South Ltd.
PY - 2020/4/2
Y1 - 2020/4/2
N2 - This paper examines China’s engagement with Africa through economic zones (EZs). It moves beyond the conceptualisation of EZs as undifferentiated enclaves of foreign investment to a dynamic perspective on the locally negotiated process of zone development. Such a perspective entails critical unpacking of the specific zone regime to understand the diverse and evolving relationships among different state and non-state actors. Drawing upon empirical research on the Eastern Industrial Zone (EIZ) in Ethiopia, we explore the complex process of learning and adaptation by government, developers, investors, and workers throughout the development of a zone regime, with specific attention to capital–labour and expatriate–local relations. We find that despite the EIZ being a state-level cooperation project, private Chinese developers work diligently with the Ethiopian government to improve the institutional support for EZs. Chinese investors also collectively generate a management regime to enhance their overseas operational capacity and experiment with various tactics to transform local recruits into an industrial workforce. Local workers, with limited protection by official labour unions, turn to individual- and group-based agency to improve their working conditions. Despite the momentum created by multiple stakeholders, there are concerns regarding the long-term contributions of EZs to engender sustained industrial transformation and skills development.
AB - This paper examines China’s engagement with Africa through economic zones (EZs). It moves beyond the conceptualisation of EZs as undifferentiated enclaves of foreign investment to a dynamic perspective on the locally negotiated process of zone development. Such a perspective entails critical unpacking of the specific zone regime to understand the diverse and evolving relationships among different state and non-state actors. Drawing upon empirical research on the Eastern Industrial Zone (EIZ) in Ethiopia, we explore the complex process of learning and adaptation by government, developers, investors, and workers throughout the development of a zone regime, with specific attention to capital–labour and expatriate–local relations. We find that despite the EIZ being a state-level cooperation project, private Chinese developers work diligently with the Ethiopian government to improve the institutional support for EZs. Chinese investors also collectively generate a management regime to enhance their overseas operational capacity and experiment with various tactics to transform local recruits into an industrial workforce. Local workers, with limited protection by official labour unions, turn to individual- and group-based agency to improve their working conditions. Despite the momentum created by multiple stakeholders, there are concerns regarding the long-term contributions of EZs to engender sustained industrial transformation and skills development.
KW - China
KW - Economic zone
KW - Ethiopia
KW - capital–labour relation
KW - enclave
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85076920930&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85076920930&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/01436597.2019.1694844
DO - 10.1080/01436597.2019.1694844
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85076920930
SN - 0143-6597
VL - 41
SP - 623
EP - 644
JO - Third World Quarterly
JF - Third World Quarterly
IS - 4
ER -