Daily Archives: April 23, 2018

The documentary we watched in class, “Please Vote for Me” was funny but insightful look in how democracy is viewed in China. First off was the complete lack of knowledge of what democracy is among the grade schoolers, which is always strange to hear from an American perspective. Also strange was the similarities between many of the Chinese traditions of synchronized ‘pledges of allegiances we saw and our pledges here in America, at least in public schools. Even stranger however was the response from one of the parents when a student asked what democracy was. The exact quote I don’t remember, but the general gist of it was ‘When your voice is heard and matters’ which struck me as odd coming from a Chinese man on camera and teaching his child, given we tend to think of Chinese as less then friends on the international stage, we do not often think of their people being sympathetic to our values.

All in all, I can see this documentary being very popular in China, showing arguably the worst aspects of democracy on display. The turn to demagoguery, the phony promises and the needless pandering and lies… In the end it’s the kid that handed out cookies that won despite the great effort the other two went through to win. As per the question in at the end as whether China is ready for democratization, I don’t think the video is a good means of gauging that, as democracy is at its core an uncontrollable and easily self-destructive ideology. Democratization is a process and has to be built from the top down in the elite as well as the bottom up, I believe it is possible, but like anywhere else (to include the west) it will need decades to come about and thrive if it would ever.

HR: https://www.ft.com/content/0f534aa4-4549-11e7-8519-9f94ee97d996

The lack of interest in the west towards Africa has always confused me, the continent is so huge and has suffered so much and could easily become an economic powerhouse akin to East Asia in the coming decades. Who in the IR sphere was predicting that the 21^st century would be the Chinese Century and that China’s command economy would overtake the United States’ as the most powerful on Earth? With Chinese eyes and money rapidly turning towards Africa, the US and Europe should seriously reconsider whether they want to let this potential powerhouse fall by the way side and become China’s first sphere of influence.

The geopolitical aspect of the move makes perfect sense, looking at one particular state China is dumping infrastructure dollars into, Ethiopia, offers no real strategic resources but is located right by the Red Sea, the Suez Canal and the oil rich Middle East with geographical positioning like that I find the Chinese narrative of 3^rd world solidarity very unsatisfactory. Even in the language used by Chinese themselves: “To have 54 African [nations as] friends is very important for China,” says Jing Gu, director of the Centre for Rising Powers and Global Development” its very clear China wants to Africa as its own international developmental playground and resource bank. And for Africans, this is welcome, as the article says, China offers a choice away from the failing policies of ‘carrot and stick’ aid from the West and overbearing charity.

The biggest downside is the incredible amount of debt African nations are building to China, the relationship is in no way equal and many African intellectuals are beginning to piece that together. Outside of France’s Emmanuel Macron of France, the west’s postion to Africa is that the nations are ‘shit holes’ and American investments remain dwarfed by Chinese. How the Chinese involvement in Africa plays out remains to be seen as Africa develops across the board, however Africa’s growth will increase going into the 21^st century, if the west wants the profits of that growth and influence they will gain going to China, so be it.