Fragmented Soft Power

Bureaucratic Politics and China’s Foreign Aid in Education to Africa

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12422844
AutoresWei Ye (0000-0001-7484-0609, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China, autor correspondente)
Ano2022
Volume32
Fascículo142
Páginas635-651
Data de publicação2022-08-05
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Contemporary China (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1067-0564 • E-ISSN: 1469-9400
EditoraRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10670564.2022.2109813
OpenAlexW4289939406
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas6

Whilst China’s increasing foreign aid in education to Africa, its soft power remains insufficient. ‘Telling China’s story well’ attributes the lack of soft power to inadequate communication. This article argues that the ‘story’ rather than ‘telling’ matters. It reveals that the education-for-economic development paradigm adopted by the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Education’s reluctance toward Africa jointly shape China’s ineffective practice in the international discourse. Institutional changes since 2018 can hardly alter this bureaucratic divide as the imbalanced capacity of China’s economy and education remains. This article contributes to bureaucratic politics in foreign policymaking by identifying ministerial influences subject to their relevance to foreign policy rather than their occupancy of resources in the issue area

Bureaucracy · China · Christian ministry · Economic growth · Economic system · Economics · Foreign policy · Hard power · Ministry of Foreign Affairs · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Relevance (law · Sociology · Soft power · Subject (documents · China's Global Influence and Migration · International Development and Aid · Law · Public Administration