Brazil’s and China’s engagement with Africa: the cases of Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau

• In Event: Brazil and China in Africa: South-South Engagement in Comparative Perspective

Abstract

In the field of international development, South-South Cooperation (SSC) has
been presented as an alternative, and not a substitute, to North-South cooperation, through the design and implementation of policies advocated as being more horizontal, less asymmetrical and based on solidarity among developing countries. In this context, Brazil and China do not hesitate to declare themselves actively engaged in the development of African countries, which are very receptive to building cooperation agendas. What are the priorities for Brazil and China in terms of South-South Cooperation (SSC)? What institutions do they develop, and how do they relate to Brazilian and Chinese national foreign policy agendas? Are there private-public tensions related to these international strategies? Based on these questions, this article has a double objective: on one hand, to present and discuss the norms and practices of engagement governing the cooperation agendas of these two emerging powers in African countries, and secondly, to analyze the design and implementation of Brazilian and Chinese cooperation policies in Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau. This is how we aim to identify similarities and differences between these two major players in SSC, and then question to what extent their practices and discourses look similar or move away from traditional criticism of the academic literature on North-South Cooperation.

Author

• Carlos R S Milani, IESP-UERJ