Exporting Authoritarianism or Stretching Democracy: China’s Training in Africa

• In Event: Democratic Erosion and Resistance: Domestic to International Factors 2

Abstract

In the past decade, the Chinese government, including its state and party agencies, has actively trained officials and journalists from developing countries, especially from the African continent. Some scholars have depicted these trainings as an export of the “China model,” while others analyzed them as part of “network-building” in China-Africa relations. Thus far, however, the empirical studies of these initiatives are limited, especially when it comes to understanding their implications for participants’ perceptions of China’s political system. This study attempts to fill this gap by examining these trainings in the context of Ethiopia—one of China’s major partners in Africa and a key recipient of China’s training opportunities. This research (part of a larger book project) engages with rich empirical data, including the analysis of textual training materials, participant observations of training seminars, as well as interviews with both Chinese educators and Ethiopian officials who took part in these programs. The data for this project was collected between 2018 and 2023 in both China and Ethiopia.
This study argues that while China does not appear to export the “China model” to African officials and journalists, its training programs are effective in “stretching” the conception of democracy and democratic practices. Specifically, Chinese training programs present China as an alternative and a superior type of democracy, capable of achieving fast economic growth and industrialization, while remedying citizens’ concerns through varied input mechanisms. The latest official iteration of this political system, as articulated by Xi Jinping, is a “whole-processed democracy.” Ethiopian participants, in turn, while questioning some aspects of China’s political system, still largely acknowledge and accept China as an alternative type of democracy—a system that they see as delivering for the Chinese citizens.
These findings have implications for our understanding of the role of major autocracies like China in shaping political perceptions and values outside its borders. The findings also have policy implications for democratic resilience initiatives in the Global South, as China’s training programs delude elite understandings of democracy and can transpire in cynicism towards Western democratic models.

Author

• Maria Repnikova, Georgia State University