Property Institutions, Politics, and Chinese Investments in African Farmland

• In Event: Comparative Politics of Developing Countries Virtual Poster Session 2

Abstract

In the field of international land-based investments, the dominant narrative is that powerful countries enter Africa and ‘grab’ the African land they want. However, we see great variation across and within African countries in the extent and patterns of foreign investment in land. These patterns suggests that in addition to determinants related to investors themselves and purely agronomic factors, African institutions have played a role in shaping variation patterns of foreign investment in land, and in particular that there are decisive domestic controls over foreign investment in land. To fill in the gap in scholarship on property rights in land in African countries and the determinants of patterns of international investment in land, this thesis takes Chinese agricultural investments in Tanzania and Zambia as case studies.

This thesis asks, How and why do patterns of Chinese investment in agriculture vary across and within Tanzania and Zambia? Three sub-questions underline this main interrogation: How and why do (1) timing, (2) locations, and (3) forms of Chinese agricultural investments vary in these two countries? To answer these research questions, I frame this study in terms of the comparative political economy of land institutions and foreign investment, and link it with the theory of new institutionalism in African contexts of legal pluralism. I use a medium-n comparative case study approach, combine with typological theorizing and process tracing. My cases are the Chinese investment projects in each country, each with its attributes of timing, location, type of investor, and land tenure of the land target for acquisition/ investment.

One of the main descriptive arguments of this thesis is that there is great variation in Chinese investors' strategies both across and within Tanzania and Zambia. I argue that this suggests that African states have played an important role in defining Chinese investment patterns in their land through formal law and regulation. The observed outcomes also demonstrate that there are subtle and often decisive local-level (i.e., informal and operating at the level of localities and subnational regions) constraints that shape investors' strategies. Given the often-controversial nature of China-Africa engagements, my evidence-based research argues against attention-grabbing headlines describing a “Chinese scramble for Africa” and the “Chinese land grab” in Africa. By analyzing multiple and diverse Chinese investors involved in the agricultural sector in Tanzania and Zambia, the PhD dissertation provides a more nuanced understanding of the local determinants of the timing, location, and forms of Chinese investment. It conceptualizes the regimes of land rights as one key determinant of Chinese agricultural investments. Overall, this thesis provides insight into how local conditions -- both formal laws, policies, and regulations and informal practices and local forces -- set constraints on China-Africa investment agendas.

Author

• Yuezhou Yang, London School of Economics