Friday, November 13, 2015

What Can Africa Learn from China?

The South African Institute of International Affairs published in November 2015 a paper titled "Learning by Doing: China-Africa Co-operation and State Learning" by Luke Simon Jordan, who runs a non-profit technology start-up in South Africa.

The paper argues that for Africa to adopt blindly Chinese policies, like the development of special industrial zones, is the equivalent of importing finished goods, rather than developing the skills for production.  It is not the static outcomes of Chinese policies that African countries should study, but the processes and institutions by which China devises, adapts, and evolves those policies.