(iPoster) China's Foreign Aid and Recipient Countries' Distributive Politics in Africa

• In Event: Poster Session: International Political Economy I & Perspectives on Canadian Foreign Policy
  In Poster Session: Poster Session: International Political Economy I

Abstract

Does Chinese foreign aid change public opinion in recipient countries? China declared a new strategic partnership with African countries at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in 2006, pledging to increase aid to African countries until 2009. Since then, China has provided various forms of ODA, such as grants and concessional loans, to African countries through FOCAC. Despite this trend, the literature on the effect of Chinese aid on public opinion in recipient countries remains in its early stages.

Focusing on the fact that recipient governments have the authority to allocate aid—especially due to the non-conditionality of Chinese aid—this research investigates its impact through the lens of distributive politics in recipient countries. African countries, despite weak accountability systems, allocate aid from China not only to their inner circles or supporters but also to the general public or swing voters to ensure the stability of the incumbent. In the distributive process, individuals may perceive Chinese aid differently. This article points out that our understanding of how the distributive consequences of Chinese aid, managed by recipient governments, affect preferences for China remains limited.

While previous studies do not separate the material payoff and political payoff of aid, this research disentangles these two distinct dimensions. In the other words, citizens in recipient countries may gain material payoff from Chinese aid as well as political payoff from Chinese aid. Individuals simultaneously consider payoff from the aid based on both economic and identity evaluation. This study hypothesizes that, based on the economic evaluation, individuals can gain material benefits regardless of their identity, whereas individuals can gain political benefits or losses depending on their salient identity such as their party affiliation. Political winners may derive political benefits from the aid, whereas political losers may incur political losses, as the aid can be appropriated for electoral mobilization, thereby enabling the incumbent government to remain in office.

Using geocoded AidData and Afrobarometer Round 6 survey data, I find that political winners gain both the material and political payoffs of Chinese aid, whereas political losers do not benefit from either. This finding suggests that political losers might even perceive a political loss of Chinese aid in recipient African countries. This study broadly contributes to understanding the effects of China's soft power, a topic of significant interest among scholars concerned about the declining influence of Western countries in the African region. In addition, it may broaden the literature on the effects of foreign aid by focusing on domestic politics within the distributive process in recipient countries.

Author

• Eunji Kim