‘China-powered’ African Agency and its Limits: the case of DR Congo 2007–2019 by Johanna Malm

Does China provide African countries with ‘China-powered’ agency to challenge other external actors for their own political benefit? During this talk, Johanna Malm will show that while political actors in aid-dependent countries can indeed be endowed with ‘China-powered’ agency that they can use in relation to China and other external actors, it is a circumscribed kind of agency that hinges on China’s own strategic interests.

Dr. Johanna Malm is an independent researcher and a member of the Stockholm Observatory for Global China. Johanna has conducted research on the DRC’s relations to China since 2007, including extensive field work in Kinshasa and Lubumbashi. Johanna was previously researcher at the Centre for Chinese Studies at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, and PhD Fellow at the Department of Society and Business at Roskilde University, Denmark. Johanna holds a PhD in International Development Studies from Roskilde University, an MA in Peace and Conflict Studies from Umeå University, and a BA with Honours (cum laude) in Political Science from Stellenbosch University.

Please register your intention to participate in person by 3pm at the latest, on Monday, April 19^th. 
The meeting starts at 7.45 am.