Principal speaker
Mr George Karavas
Scholars and practitioners alike continually represent China as offering an alternative perspective on development. China's development experience is seen as unique in contrast to Western approaches to development. For African countries in particular then, China's ‘developing country' status and experience makes it appear more relevant for addressing challenges of hunger and poverty. However, the importance of distinguishing between Chinese and Western approaches to development in this view emphasises their differences at the cost of exploring similarities. This paper critically examines these claims of difference by identifying points of convergence between the two. In doing so, I analyse agricultural modernization as prescribed by Chinese and World Bank development strategies in various African countries. Both the Chinese government and the World Bank prescribe agricultural modernization as a development strategy that should involve integrating farmers into local and global markets through the use of agro-industrial inputs. Such an approach to agricultural modernization – justified in terms of responding to hunger – is highly problematic and contested. Yet scholars neglect to critically enquire into this approach to agricultural development, which is partly a consequence of dominant debates that focus on comparing Chinese and Western approaches in somewhat abstract terms. If we examine where convergence exists in Chinese and Western engagement in Africa, we can reveal an important omission resulting from analyses framed by formal comparative methods. This critical inquiry opens up space to discuss the substantive implications of a market-based approach to hunger and poverty.
George Karavas is a Lecturer in Peace and Conflict Studies in the School of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Queensland. He has a doctorate from UQ on Chinese and Western engagement in Africa through agricultural development projects. His work appears in Globalizations and Global Discourse, and he is currently working on a book manuscript based on his thesis research.
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RSVP on or before Monday 8 May 2017 , by email gai@griffith.edu.au , or by phone x54705