Who Is Attracted to the Chinese Model in Africa?

Abstract

There has been much recent scholarly interest in the activities of China in Africa. Scholars have noted that China presents an alternative developmental model, that challenges the “Washington Consensus.” To what extent is this model attractive to African publics, and to whom is it attractive? Using the 2016 wave 6 Afrobarometer data, as well as data from V-Dem and other country-level economic financial aid and trade data, and using multilevel regression analysis, I find that there is little support for the idea that a country’s dependence on Chinese financial aid impacted in any way African public opinion about China as a model (although the volume of Chinese imports relative to Western imports correlates negatively with viewing China as a model). Furthermore, when considering economic versus ideological explanations, individual perceptions of China regarding economic benefits for their countries matter more than ideological attraction (or revulsion) of the China model.