This open access book analyses the domestic politics of African dominant party regimes, most notably African governments’ survival strategies, to explain their variance of opinions and responses towards the reforming policies of the EU. The author discredits the widespread assumption that the growing presence of China in Africa has made the EU’s task of supporting governance reforms difficult, positing that the EU’s good governance strategies resonate better with the survival strategies of governments in some dominant party regimes more so than others, regardless of Chinese involvement. Hackenesch studies three African nations – Angola, Ethiopia and Rwanda – which all began engaging with the EU on governance reforms in the early 2000s. She argues that other factors generally identified in the literature, such as the EU good governance strategies or economic dependence of the target country on the EU, have set additional incentives for African governments to not engage on governance reforms.

Based on a detailed study of 35 cases in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and post-communist Eurasia, this book explores the fate of competitive authoritarian regimes between 1990 and 2008. It finds that where social, economic, and technocratic ties to the West were extensive, as in Eastern Europe and the Americas, the external cost of abuse led incumbents to cede power rather than crack down, which led to democratization. Where ties to the West were limited, external democratizing pressure was weaker and countries rarely democratized. In these cases, regime outcomes hinged on the character of state and ruling party organizations. Where incumbents possessed developed and cohesive coercive party structures, they could thwart opposition challenges, and competitive authoritarian regimes survived; where incumbents lacked such organizational tools, regimes were unstable but rarely democratized.

This open access book analyses the domestic politics of African dominant party regimes, most notably African governments' survival strategies, to explain their variance of opinions and responses towards the reforming policies of the EU. The author discredits the widespread assumption that the growing presence of China in Africa has made the EU's task of supporting governance reforms difficult, positing that the EU's good governance strategies resonate better with the survival strategies of governments in some dominant party regimes more so than others, regardless of Chinese involvement. Hackenesch studies three African nations - Angola, Ethiopia and Rwanda - which all began engaging with the EU on governance reforms in the early 2000s. She argues that other factors generally identified in the literature, such as the EU's good governance strategies or economic dependence of the target country on the EU, have set additional incentives for African governments to not engage on governance reforms. This work was published by Saint Philip Street Press pursuant to a Creative Commons license permitting commercial use. All rights not granted by the work's license are retained by the author or authors.

Beginning in earnest at the turn of the twenty-first century, China embarked on a robust multilevel engagement strategy with a number of African states on three simultaneous fronts--economic, political, and military. The push was predicated by Beijing's need to secure energy and natural resources to fuel its booming economy and bolster its position as the world's manufacturing hub. The depth of China's engagement cannot be understated, and its increasing stakes in the security dimension of Africa's myriad conflicts is affecting the geopolitical landscape of a continent that has been in the past an exclusive domain of the West. C hina in Africa examines the multifaceted effects of China's engagement with the continent, both its many risks and opportunities. It provides critical and relevant information for understanding the strategic drivers, trends, and the potential impact of China in Africa. The book covers Chinese soft and hard power, energy and arms relations, and China's relations with individual African countries: Angola, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Ultimately, this volume serves to assist in improving U.S. policymakers' understanding of China's role in Africa and ensure that appropriate measures are taken to secure American interests in the region. Contributors include Mauro De Lorenzo (American Enterprise Institute), Drew Thompson (Nixon Center), Wenran Jiang (University of Alberta), Paul Hare (U.S.-Angola Chamber of Commerce), Susan M. Puska (Defense Group, Inc.), Ian Taylor (University of St. Andrews), Chris Zambelis (Helios Global, Inc.), David Shinn (GeorgeWashington University), Joshua Eisenman (American Foreign Policy Council), Yitzhak Shichor (University of Haifa), Greg Mills and Christopher Thompson (Brenthurst Foundation), Andrew McGregor (Aberfoyle International), and John C. K. Daly (United Press International).

Examines China’s involvement in Ethiopia as the latter embarks on modernization and economic development. This comprehensive study of China-Ethiopia relations examines why China—an economic and emerging global power—has built relations with Ethiopia and why Ethiopia has responded by singling out China as a partner in its quest for economic development. Using middle-range theory and field research, Aaron Tesfaye focuses on three sets of phenomena: political, economic, and strategic. He explores the following questions: Why are China and Ethiopia building relations at this juncture of globalization? What motivates China’s role in helping build Ethiopia’s infrastructure, and is Ethiopia’s debt to China sustainable? What can Ethiopia offer China in terms of strategic interest in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea littoral, which is now the most sought out area for military bases by regional and international forces? Tesfaye argues that China’s ability to meet Africa’s tremendous demand for capital and technology is a reflection of its economic and military rise and evidence that the Asian Century has arrived, ushering in a new global reality. “This is an excellent contribution to South-South relations in general, and China-Africa scholarship in particular.” — Edson Ziso, author of A Post State-Centric Analysis of China-Africa Relations: Internationalisation of Chinese Capital and State-Society Relations in Ethiopia

Autocracies not only resist the global spread of democracy but are sources of autocratic influence and pressure. This book presents a conceptual model to understand, assess, and explain the promotion and diffusion of authoritarian elements. Employing a cross-regional approach, leading experts empirically test the concept of authoritarian gravity centers (AGCs), defined as "regimes that constitute a force of attraction and contagion for countries in geopolitical proximity." With an analysis extending across Latin America, the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Asia, these AGCs are shown to be effective as active promoters (push) or as neutral sources of attraction (pull). The authors contend that the influence of exogenous factors, along with international and regional contexts for the transformation of regime types, is vital to understanding and analyzing the transmission of autocratic institutional settings, ideas, norms, procedures, and practices, thus explaining the regional clustering of autocracies. It is the regional context in which external actors can influence authoritarian processes most effectively. Authoritarian Gravity Centers is a vibrant and comprehensive contribution to the growing field of autocratization, which will be of great interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students of comparative area studies, illiberalism, international politics, and studies of democracy.