About this Book

Since 1957, more than 45 African countries have received aid from China, yet little about the impact of this assistance is known. Deborah Brä utigam provides the first authoritative account of Chinese aid in rural Africa. The book answers three primary questions: How does Chinese aid differ from that of other donors? What impact has China's aid had on African development? What factors account for the widely divergent outcomes of China's aid? In a methodological "tour de force," Brä utigam draws on anthropology, economics, organization theory and political science to explain how changing ideas about development in China shaped the design of its aid, and how domestic politics in African countries influenced its outcome. Based on unpublished documents and extensive interviews in Liberia, Sierra Leone and The Gambia, Brä utigam fills an important gap in our knowledge of China and Africa, and makes a fundamental contribution to out understanding of the relationship between foreign aid and African development.