University of Michigan Press Shaping the Future of Power: Knowledge Production and Network-Building in China-Africa Relations

China’s rise to power has become one of the most discussed questions in both International Relations Theory (IRT) and Foreign Policy circles. Although power has been a core concept of IRT for a long time, the faces and mechanisms of power as it relates to Chinese foreign policy making has reinvigorated and changed the contours of that debate. With the rise of China and other powers across the global political arena comes a new visibility for different kinds of encounters between states, particularly between China and other Global South states. These encounters are made more visible to IR scholars now because of the increasing influence and impact that rising powers are making in the international system. This book shows foreign policy encounters between rising powers and Global South states do not necessarily exhibit the same logics, behaviors, or investment strategies of Euro-American hegemons. Instead, they have distinctive features that require new theoretical frameworks for their analysis. Shaping the Future of Power probes the type of power mechanisms that build, diffuse, and project China’s power in Africa. It is necessary to take into account the processes of knowledge production, social capital formation, and skills transfers in Chinese foreign policy toward African states to fully understand China’s power building mechanisms. These elements are crucial for the relational power framework to capture both the material aspects and ideational people-centered aspects to power. By examining China’s investments in human resource development programs for Africa, the book examines a vital, yet undertheorized, aspect of China’s foreign policy making. Review "Shaping the Future of Power: Knowledge Production and Network-Building in China-Africa Relations is an important contribution to China scholarship and to China-Africa studies in particular... Benabdallah's detailed and thoughtful study is a founding in-depth take on what "strengthening people-to-people ties" means in practical form and for international relations theory." - Lauren Johnston, The China Quarterly--Lauren Johnston "The China Quarterly""Reflecting, and speaking to, a shift in perspectives on foreign policy and development, Lina Benabdallah makes a timely and powerful contribution to the debate on the future of international development in a world in which traditional power structures are being radically reconfigured." --The Journal of Development Studies--Miriam Driessen "Journal of Development Studies" (3/5/2021 12:00:00 AM)"Benabdallah develops a novel and innovative conceptualization of power in international relations...This is an excellent, empirically-based and rich, but theoretically sophisticated book which should be widely read by all those interested in the evolution of China-Africa relations." - African Studies Review-- "African Studies Review""[Readers] will be intrigued by the numerous examples of Chinese efforts to forge complex networks of influence throughout the region to advance Beijing's own version of soft power, including through the establishment of Confucius Institutes at universities across Africa." --Foreign Affairs --Nicolas van de Walle "Foreign Affairs""Benabdallah's work presents a major and significant challenge to traditional understanding of power politics between great powers... [her] contribution is a must-read not just for scholars of China-Africa relations, but for all who are interested in understanding China's role in the world today." --The Washington Post, Monkey Cage-- "Washington Post" About the Author Lina Benabdallah is Assistant Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Wake Forest University.