Tim Zajontz
Dados Biográficos
| ID | 192162 |
|---|---|
| NOME | Tim Zajontz |
| PRENOMES | Tim |
| SOBRENOME | Zajontz |
| ASSINATURA | ZAJONTZ T |
| AFILIAÇÕES | Stellenbosch University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7868-9640 |
| VERIFICADO | Sim |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 18 |
| TOTAL DE CITAÇÕES | 121 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 18 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMEIRO ANO DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2015 |
| ANO MAIS RECENTE DE PUBLICAÇÃO | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 5 |
Structural power redux
The US and China are locked in a spiralling geopolitical competition to renegotiate globalization. This competition centres on establishing control over the transnational financial, infrastructure, digital and production networks that have taken shape after the Cold War. We historicize how US structural power became ‘networked’ in the neoliberal era, and theorize how these networks shape current superpower competition. We contend that contemporar…
Locating Africa in the Second Cold War
Africa is often treated as peripheral to contemporary geopolitics. This article challenges this reading by conceptualising polyalignment as an extraverted form of African agency, which is not solely reactive to, but co-constitutive of, the Second Cold War. Successive Kenyan governments have diversified the country’s external relations to broaden (geo)political and developmental scope. Yet, polyalignment is shown to be not only a foreign policy bu…
The Second Cold War
Relations between the US and China have deteriorated to their lowest point since their rapprochement in the 1970s. To make sense of contemporary geopolitics, our objective in this article is two-fold. First, we historically situate contemporary US-China rivalry to conceptualise the Second Cold War (SCW). We argue that in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, both the US and China launched ‘restorative’ political projects that harked back to imag…
Africa’s Railway Renaissance
Introduction : China's role in Africa's railway renaissance / Tim Zajontz, Pádraig Carmody, Mandira Bagwandeen and Anthony Leysens -- The political economy of China's globalising railways -- and their arrival in Africa / Tim Zajontz -- Powering African transport or transporting Chinese power? : the spatial political economy of Chinese railways in Africa / Kefa M. Otiso and Pádraig Carmody -- The freedom railway now and then : the enduring relevan…
The Political Economy of China’s Infrastructure Development in Africa
Divergent State Agency
The Destiny of the Freedom Railway
Built to decolonise southern Africa’s (transport) economies, the Tanzania–Zambia Railway became a symbol of Sino-African solidarity and, to this day, serves as the poster child for the “all-weather friendship” between Africa and China. This chapter recounts the history of the Tanzania–Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) and documents its steady devaluation over the decades. It sheds light on the 2016 negotiations about a Chinese equity investment i…
From Loan-Financed to Privatised Infrastructure? Tracing China's Turn Towards Public–Private Partnerships in Africa
Waning debt sustainability has challenged the debt-financed, infrastructure-led global expansion of Chinese capital. This article traces the gradual shift in the financial governance of the Belt and Road Initiative towards public–private partnerships (PPPs). We first document China's domestic PPP experience and its failure to check the unsustainable indebtedness of sub-national governments. We then conceptualise China's “turn” towards PPPs in Afr…
Railway Imperialisms in East Africa
Physical infrastructure has been central to the century-long exploitation of Africa’s soil and peoples by external powers. This chapter sheds light on the pivotal role of railways in the political economies of historical and contemporary imperialisms in East Africa. It first recounts how rail infrastructure developments in Britain’s East Africa and Uganda Protectorates as well as in German East Africa fostered colonial primitive accumulation by f…
The Chinese infrastructural fix in Africa
This article scrutinises the surge in Chinese-funded road development in Zambia with the help of David Harvey’s theory of spatio-temporal fixes. The ‘moving out’ of Chinese surplus capital and material to Africa has been facilitated by an extensive disbursement of loans and export credits for infrastructure projects. Transcending Harvey’s analytical ‘imperio-centrism’, the article shows that the actualisation of the Chinese infrastructural fix ha…
China’s spatial fix and ‘debt diplomacy’ in Africa
Mounting overaccumulation of capital and material has compelled the Chinese government to seek solutions overseas. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), with its transregional infrastructure projects connecting Eurasia and Africa, is the hallmark venture in this effort. Chinese road, railway, port and energy projects, implemented under the BRI banner, have become widespread in Africa. This article traces drivers of the BRI in the post-reform evolut…
Infrastructure and the Politics of African State Agency
Infrastructure development has experienced a political renaissance in Africa and is again at the centre of national, regional, and continental development agendas. At the same time, China has been identified by African policy-makers as a particularly suitable strategic partner. As infrastructure has become a main pillar of Sino-African cooperation, there has been growing analytical interest in the role of African actors in shaping the terms and c…
Seamless imaginaries, territorialized realities
Corridors are central to contemporary processes of spatial reordering. On the African continent, they feature prominently in development planning at national, regional and continental scales. This article sheds light on the regional politics and supranational governance of cross-border corridors, aspects that have remained underrepresented in the burgeoning literature on corridors. Combining theoretical insights from the New Regionalism Approach …
Win-win' contested
As infrastructure development has become a key ingredient in Africa-China relations, the role of African governments in co-determining the design, funding and governance of the continent's infrastructures has come under close scrutiny. This article sheds light on the rehabilitation of a symbol of Sino-African friendship: the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA). Employing Jessop's strategic-relational approach, it is shown that the strategi…
Debt, distress, dispossession
With China's rise to become Africa's largest bilateral creditor, much research has focused on an evidence-based critique of the politicised narrative about China's supposed ‘debt trap diplomacy'. At a more fundamental level, this debate problematises the function of debt and related power differentials in late capitalism and calls into question development paradigms, notably the hegemonic infrastructure-led development regime, that have sustained…
In a fix
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) aims to integrate Africa into an ambitious Chinese-constructed infrastructure network. The terms of this integration however deepen Africa’s dependent position and perpetuate its terms of (mal)integration into the global political economy. These terms, which are characterised by external domination and socially-injurious and extraverted modes of accumulation, are likely to be exacerbated by the BRI’s focus on fa…
Regionalism Revised
The purpose of this article is a theoretical one, namely to make the case for a critical-reflectivist approach to the study of regionalism in Africa and beyond. We argue that contemporary changes in the global political economy require political economists to reconsider how we study regional processes and actors. The article provides insights into the sociology of the field of study by recounting its evolution, reviewing key debates and tracing t…
Civil Society in Southern Africa - Transformers from Below
This article assesses the potential of civil society in the region of southern Africa to act as a catalyst for transformation towards broader inclusivity and a people-centred approach to regional integration and socio-economic development. This is done through an empirical case study which focuses on four regional civil society organisations (CSOs), namely the Council of NGOs (CNGO) of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Southe…
The Second Cold War
Relations between the US and China have deteriorated to their lowest point since their rapprochement in the 1970s. To make sense of contemporary geopolitics, our objective in this article is two-fold. First, we historically situate contemporary US-China rivalry to conceptualise the Second Cold War (SCW). We argue that in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, both the US and China launched ‘restorative’ political projects that harked back to imag…
In a fix
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) aims to integrate Africa into an ambitious Chinese-constructed infrastructure network. The terms of this integration however deepen Africa’s dependent position and perpetuate its terms of (mal)integration into the global political economy. These terms, which are characterised by external domination and socially-injurious and extraverted modes of accumulation, are likely to be exacerbated by the BRI’s focus on fa…
Debt, distress, dispossession
With China's rise to become Africa's largest bilateral creditor, much research has focused on an evidence-based critique of the politicised narrative about China's supposed ‘debt trap diplomacy'. At a more fundamental level, this debate problematises the function of debt and related power differentials in late capitalism and calls into question development paradigms, notably the hegemonic infrastructure-led development regime, that have sustained…
Infrastructure and the Politics of African State Agency
Infrastructure development has experienced a political renaissance in Africa and is again at the centre of national, regional, and continental development agendas. At the same time, China has been identified by African policy-makers as a particularly suitable strategic partner. As infrastructure has become a main pillar of Sino-African cooperation, there has been growing analytical interest in the role of African actors in shaping the terms and c…
Seamless imaginaries, territorialized realities
Corridors are central to contemporary processes of spatial reordering. On the African continent, they feature prominently in development planning at national, regional and continental scales. This article sheds light on the regional politics and supranational governance of cross-border corridors, aspects that have remained underrepresented in the burgeoning literature on corridors. Combining theoretical insights from the New Regionalism Approach …
From Loan-Financed to Privatised Infrastructure? Tracing China's Turn Towards Public–Private Partnerships in Africa
Waning debt sustainability has challenged the debt-financed, infrastructure-led global expansion of Chinese capital. This article traces the gradual shift in the financial governance of the Belt and Road Initiative towards public–private partnerships (PPPs). We first document China's domestic PPP experience and its failure to check the unsustainable indebtedness of sub-national governments. We then conceptualise China's “turn” towards PPPs in Afr…
Regionalism Revised
The purpose of this article is a theoretical one, namely to make the case for a critical-reflectivist approach to the study of regionalism in Africa and beyond. We argue that contemporary changes in the global political economy require political economists to reconsider how we study regional processes and actors. The article provides insights into the sociology of the field of study by recounting its evolution, reviewing key debates and tracing t…
Win-win' contested
As infrastructure development has become a key ingredient in Africa-China relations, the role of African governments in co-determining the design, funding and governance of the continent's infrastructures has come under close scrutiny. This article sheds light on the rehabilitation of a symbol of Sino-African friendship: the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA). Employing Jessop's strategic-relational approach, it is shown that the strategi…
Locating Africa in the Second Cold War
Africa is often treated as peripheral to contemporary geopolitics. This article challenges this reading by conceptualising polyalignment as an extraverted form of African agency, which is not solely reactive to, but co-constitutive of, the Second Cold War. Successive Kenyan governments have diversified the country’s external relations to broaden (geo)political and developmental scope. Yet, polyalignment is shown to be not only a foreign policy bu…
Civil Society in Southern Africa - Transformers from Below
This article assesses the potential of civil society in the region of southern Africa to act as a catalyst for transformation towards broader inclusivity and a people-centred approach to regional integration and socio-economic development. This is done through an empirical case study which focuses on four regional civil society organisations (CSOs), namely the Council of NGOs (CNGO) of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Southe…
Regionalism Revised
The purpose of this article is a theoretical one, namely to make the case for a critical-reflectivist approach to the study of regionalism in Africa and beyond. We argue that contemporary changes in the global political economy require political economists to reconsider how we study regional processes and actors. The article provides insights into the sociology of the field of study by recounting its evolution, reviewing key debates and tracing t…
Civil Society in Southern Africa - Transformers from Below
This article assesses the potential of civil society in the region of southern Africa to act as a catalyst for transformation towards broader inclusivity and a people-centred approach to regional integration and socio-economic development. This is done through an empirical case study which focuses on four regional civil society organisations (CSOs), namely the Council of NGOs (CNGO) of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Southe…
In a fix
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) aims to integrate Africa into an ambitious Chinese-constructed infrastructure network. The terms of this integration however deepen Africa’s dependent position and perpetuate its terms of (mal)integration into the global political economy. These terms, which are characterised by external domination and socially-injurious and extraverted modes of accumulation, are likely to be exacerbated by the BRI’s focus on fa…
Debt, distress, dispossession
With China's rise to become Africa's largest bilateral creditor, much research has focused on an evidence-based critique of the politicised narrative about China's supposed ‘debt trap diplomacy'. At a more fundamental level, this debate problematises the function of debt and related power differentials in late capitalism and calls into question development paradigms, notably the hegemonic infrastructure-led development regime, that have sustained…
Railway Imperialisms in East Africa
Physical infrastructure has been central to the century-long exploitation of Africa’s soil and peoples by external powers. This chapter sheds light on the pivotal role of railways in the political economies of historical and contemporary imperialisms in East Africa. It first recounts how rail infrastructure developments in Britain’s East Africa and Uganda Protectorates as well as in German East Africa fostered colonial primitive accumulation by f…
The Chinese infrastructural fix in Africa
This article scrutinises the surge in Chinese-funded road development in Zambia with the help of David Harvey’s theory of spatio-temporal fixes. The ‘moving out’ of Chinese surplus capital and material to Africa has been facilitated by an extensive disbursement of loans and export credits for infrastructure projects. Transcending Harvey’s analytical ‘imperio-centrism’, the article shows that the actualisation of the Chinese infrastructural fix ha…
China’s spatial fix and ‘debt diplomacy’ in Africa
Mounting overaccumulation of capital and material has compelled the Chinese government to seek solutions overseas. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), with its transregional infrastructure projects connecting Eurasia and Africa, is the hallmark venture in this effort. Chinese road, railway, port and energy projects, implemented under the BRI banner, have become widespread in Africa. This article traces drivers of the BRI in the post-reform evolut…
Infrastructure and the Politics of African State Agency
Infrastructure development has experienced a political renaissance in Africa and is again at the centre of national, regional, and continental development agendas. At the same time, China has been identified by African policy-makers as a particularly suitable strategic partner. As infrastructure has become a main pillar of Sino-African cooperation, there has been growing analytical interest in the role of African actors in shaping the terms and c…
Seamless imaginaries, territorialized realities
Corridors are central to contemporary processes of spatial reordering. On the African continent, they feature prominently in development planning at national, regional and continental scales. This article sheds light on the regional politics and supranational governance of cross-border corridors, aspects that have remained underrepresented in the burgeoning literature on corridors. Combining theoretical insights from the New Regionalism Approach …
Win-win' contested
As infrastructure development has become a key ingredient in Africa-China relations, the role of African governments in co-determining the design, funding and governance of the continent's infrastructures has come under close scrutiny. This article sheds light on the rehabilitation of a symbol of Sino-African friendship: the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA). Employing Jessop's strategic-relational approach, it is shown that the strategi…
Africa’s Railway Renaissance
Introduction : China's role in Africa's railway renaissance / Tim Zajontz, Pádraig Carmody, Mandira Bagwandeen and Anthony Leysens -- The political economy of China's globalising railways -- and their arrival in Africa / Tim Zajontz -- Powering African transport or transporting Chinese power? : the spatial political economy of Chinese railways in Africa / Kefa M. Otiso and Pádraig Carmody -- The freedom railway now and then : the enduring relevan…
The Political Economy of China’s Infrastructure Development in Africa
Divergent State Agency
The Destiny of the Freedom Railway
Built to decolonise southern Africa’s (transport) economies, the Tanzania–Zambia Railway became a symbol of Sino-African solidarity and, to this day, serves as the poster child for the “all-weather friendship” between Africa and China. This chapter recounts the history of the Tanzania–Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) and documents its steady devaluation over the decades. It sheds light on the 2016 negotiations about a Chinese equity investment i…
From Loan-Financed to Privatised Infrastructure? Tracing China's Turn Towards Public–Private Partnerships in Africa
Waning debt sustainability has challenged the debt-financed, infrastructure-led global expansion of Chinese capital. This article traces the gradual shift in the financial governance of the Belt and Road Initiative towards public–private partnerships (PPPs). We first document China's domestic PPP experience and its failure to check the unsustainable indebtedness of sub-national governments. We then conceptualise China's “turn” towards PPPs in Afr…
The Second Cold War
Relations between the US and China have deteriorated to their lowest point since their rapprochement in the 1970s. To make sense of contemporary geopolitics, our objective in this article is two-fold. First, we historically situate contemporary US-China rivalry to conceptualise the Second Cold War (SCW). We argue that in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, both the US and China launched ‘restorative’ political projects that harked back to imag…
Locating Africa in the Second Cold War
Africa is often treated as peripheral to contemporary geopolitics. This article challenges this reading by conceptualising polyalignment as an extraverted form of African agency, which is not solely reactive to, but co-constitutive of, the Second Cold War. Successive Kenyan governments have diversified the country’s external relations to broaden (geo)political and developmental scope. Yet, polyalignment is shown to be not only a foreign policy bu…
Structural power redux
The US and China are locked in a spiralling geopolitical competition to renegotiate globalization. This competition centres on establishing control over the transnational financial, infrastructure, digital and production networks that have taken shape after the Cold War. We historicize how US structural power became ‘networked’ in the neoliberal era, and theorize how these networks shape current superpower competition. We contend that contemporar…
Economics (14 obras) · Political science (14 obras) · Politics (11 obras) · International Development and Aid (10 obras) · Political economy (9 obras) · China (8 obras) · Law (7 obras) · Sociology (7 obras) · China's Global Influence and Migration (6 obras) · Economy (6 obras)