Sino-African and Sino-Congolese Economic Relations in the 21st Century: Beyond Dependency?

Persistent URL of this record https://hdl.handle.net/1887/41668

In Collections

This item can be found in the following collections:

International Studies (BA)

Soldini, Matteo (2016)

Sino-African and Sino-Congolese Economic Relations in the 21st Century: Beyond Dependency?

Bachelor thesis | International Studies (BA)

The aim of this thesis is to explore the role of Chinese economic involvement in Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as in the specific case of the Democratic Republic of Congo, in order to evaluate the extent to which dependency theory accurately describes these relationships. While this paper argues that patterns of dependency might not be accurate in describing Sino-African trade, the same cannot be asserted when looking at Sino-Congolese trade, which appears to embody centre-periphery dynamics. However, when addressing Chinese economic relations with Congo, another major aspect that needs consideration is investment. The potential impact that Chinese investment could have in the DRC deepens the analysis on the nature of Sino-Congolese relationship and proves that dependency theory does not provide an accurate depiction even in the Congolese case.