Obert Hodzi

• PhD
• Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) at University of Liverpool

This chapter examines how small states in the Global South strategically internationalise their bilateral conflicts with great powers. We develop and employ the concept of strategic internationalisation to explain the process through which small states deploy and amplify their fight against a hostile great power by aligning their cause with that of...

China is internationalizing its higher education sector – setting up several bilateral and multilateral partnerships between public and private institutions across the globe. However, as the “West” is disentangling itself from partnerships with Chinese institutions of higher education and the Confucius Institutes (CIs), African countries seem to be...

The presence of African students in Chinese societies has gained more attention over the past two decades. African students have received various higher education training in Chinese societies through numerous bilateral and multilateral partnerships. Some of these students have over the years transitioned into migrants after graduation and engaged...

The EU-China cooperation on security in Africa has remained on the level of aspirations and policy formulation with insignificant tangible results. Traditionally, the EU has played a strong role in Africa’s security architecture, and China’s participation within this policy area will open up areas of possible cooperation and conflict. Both China an...

China is emerging as a key state actor in international development – a sector that has been dominated by the United States for decades. US and Chinese foreign aid programs can be compared on the basis of several benchmarks: 1) official state definition and accounting of foreign aid programs; 2) historical foundations and origins; 3) sectoral distr...

Nelson Chamisa is central to the political terrain of contemporary Zimbabwe. Post the soft coup of November 2017 and the death of Morgan Tsvangirai in early 2018, Chamisa became president of the Movement for Democratic Change party and contested the July 2018 presidential election. The tempo of changes in the Movement for Democratic Change presiden...

States in Africa are labeled “system ineffectual,” inconsequential to global politics, and lacking material and ideational capabilities to structure their foreign relations. The result is a portrayal of a passive Africa at the whims of its bilateral partners—be they China, the United States, or Russia. Contra this impolitic framing of Africa, this...

This introductory article examines the concept of strategic localization, which is central to the theme of this Special Issue of Politics & Policy . We focus on how African states, for regime survival and/or pragmatic reasons, reinterpret China's development discourse and preferences and implement them in their local contexts. We hypothesize that t...

Relations between China and African nations have intensified following the ratification of several multilateral and bilateral developmental agreements, especially after the third Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit in 2006. In the past decade, the relations have transcended to the micro-level, with important implications for households...

African students’ mobility to China is growing – making China the second most popular destination for African students studying abroad, after France. Generally, due to the pervasive poverty and inequality in African states, educational mobility is a means to escape individual socio-economic challenges for the transformation of lives. However, is th...

Exploring the representational effect of tourism, this study examines factors that influence perceptions that Chinese outbound tourists are representatives or de facto ambassadors of the Chinese government advancing its national objectives abroad. The paper finds that the Chinese government is ambivalent, and at times inconsistent about endowing in...

China’s economic success has prompted both academic political economists and applied policy analysts to speculate about the implications of a new ‘China model’ of economic development and global economic governance. A particular issue is the degree to which the China model involves developing in opposition to or in cooperation with the pre-existing...

With a few exceptions, armed civil wars are no longer commonplace in Africa, but anti-government protests are. Instead of armed rebels, unarmed civilians are challenging regimes across Africa to reconsider their governance practices and deliver both political and economic change. In their responses, regimes in countries like Zimbabwe, Cameroon, Rwa...

Chinese in Africa explores the complexities of identities and forms in which the Chinese Migrants in Africa express their ‘Chineseness’. In its study of the Chinese diaspora in Africa, the book eschews tendencies to compound the Chinese by showing their distinctiveness in terms of history, culture, identity, and adaptation mechanisms. It pushes be...

India, Brazil and South Africa’s efforts within the framework of the IBSA Dialogue Forum formed in 2003 have done little to change or challenge the balance of power. Indeed, their collective objective of reordering the international system and reforming the United Nations Security Council to make it more responsive to contemporary geopolitical real...

This introduction presents background information to a special issue exploring the complexities of the Chinese identity and forms in which ‘Chineseness’ is expressed by Chinese migrants in Africa. Existing literature and media reports on the Chinese in Africa assumes that they are a homogenous group, this introductory article argues to the contrary...

Building on the broad history of Sino-Africa relations, and particularly on the thesis that China expands its interests abroad when its relative economic power increases, this chapter discusses China’s intervention in Libya’s 2011 intrastate armed conflict. It begins by exploring Sino-Libya diplomatic, political and economic relations from a histor...

This chapter explores China’s intervention in South Sudan’s intrastate armed conflict. This chapter starts by tracing historical relations between China and southern Sudan actors since Sudan’s independence in 1956. It then examines China’s pragmatic foreign policy strategies, first in transforming its antagonistic relationship with the Sudan People...

This chapter discusses the global discourse on intervention in foreign intrastate armed conflicts by China and other non-Western rising powers. It assesses the prevailing discourse on the topic and the emerging gaps. The main argument advanced in the chapter is that the major gap in existing scholarship is the lack of systematic theoretical and emp...

The chapter lays the general background of the research context. The theoretical and empirical significance of the study is discussed, and a brief introduction of the main arguments is made. In a nutshell, it mentions the main case studies—Sudan, South Sudan and Libya—as well as the minor cases that will be intermittently referred to in the study....

In exploring the argument that a state’s position in the international system determines its foreign policy and external intervention behaviour, this chapter begins by giving a critical historical analysis of China’s evolving understanding of foreign intervention, its foreign intervention policy and external intervention behaviour from imperial tim...

Based on conclusions made in Chaps. 4– 6, the overall argument advanced in this book is that China’s intervention behaviour in African intrastate armed conflicts is a result of the combined effect of an increase in its relative economic power, which compelled it to expand its interests into politically volatile countries in search for raw materials...

Socialization of Africa into the liberal international order was largely a preserve of the West. However, as China expands its economic and political influence across Africa, the liberal international order is being put to the test. Representing alternative global governance norms and values, China is seeking the legitimation of its emerging global...

This book gives a compelling analysis and explanation of shifts in China’s non-intervention policy in Africa. Systematically connecting the neoclassical realist theoretical logic with an empirical analysis of China’s intervention in African civil wars, the volume highlights a methodical interlink between theoretical and empirical analysis that take...

Traditional methods of rigging elections are falling out of favour in the eyes of leaders keen to have their authoritarian regimes validated at the ballot box. Aided by digital technologies, a loyal supporter base and a lucrative party identity and narrative, opposition parties like Zimbabwe’s MDC are taking their turn at manipulating the outcomes...

The liberal international order has been under heavy strain in recent years. From Brexit to Trump's presidency, its tenacity is being put to the test. The resultant commotion should be a window of opportunity for China to materially revise the existing order or establish an alternative order under its leadership. However, the puzzle that is unfoldi...

Prevailing narratives in the discourse on China-Africa engagement are that China is developing Africa. This paper departs from those narratives because they disregard the agency of Africa's political elite. Basing its argument on the nature of the African political elite, the paper analyses their role in determining the impact of China's economic a...

This Asia Paper explores how China, a ‘partial’ global power, can set the agenda and determine the rules in a global order dominated by a declining yet unyielding global power. In exploring this question, we present the argument that building ‘alternative’ regional and global institutions might be a safer strategy for China. Further, it examines ho...

For China, South Sudan assays its long-standing foreign policy principles and development ideologies in Africa - the non-interference principle and the idea that economic development brings peace and security. But beyond that, it ostensibly unveils the intricacies of Beijing’s foreign policy strategies, especially the efficacy of its non-interferen...

Allegations of UN peacekeepers committing sexual violence and exploitation, such asrape and ‘food-for-sex’ against women and girls in the Central African Republic and theDemocratic Republic of Congo have done little to instill confidence. Furthermore,reports published in June 2014 that a group of women were gang-raped in Juba, SouthSudan by alleged...

Through a comparative analysis of the criminal justice system of Kenya and Zimbabwe; this study will examine the role, action and issues affecting the two legal systems as they relate to issues of accountability and impunity. It will critically explore reforms and measures taken in Kenya to address issues of accountability and impunity in the count...

The youth in Zimbabwe have often been described as disenfranchised, corruptible and susceptible to manipulation by politicians. This narrative assumes that the youth are a homogenous group, uniform in their grievances and consensual about strategies to resolve them. Analysing the case of youth participation in the 2013 harmonised elections in Zimba...

The economic voting theory and the responsibility hypothesis posit that voters hold the government accountable for economic performance and will vote for the incumbent if the economy is good. The core assumption is that there is an incumbent and an opposition contesting in an election. But, this is not always the case. In elections following a tran...

This paper argues that the crisis of electoral democracy in Zimbabwe and Cote d'Ivoire is a result of underlying structural and institutional deficiencies within national and regional multinational institutions. It assesses the extent to which they have been ‘enablers’ or ‘spoilers’ of electoral-based transitions to democracy. Yet it avoids general...

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Access to Information is by no means an end in itself, rather it is a means through which communities and individuals alike obtain knowledge of the rights that accrue to them and demand their fulfillment. Further, it is a tool for enhancing citizen engagement and participation in their governance, attaining mass-based empowerment...

China's development assistance to Africa has attracted varied criticisms from academics, Western governments and international donor organisations. The main criticisms have been directed at the lack of good governance conditions on its development assistance to African governments and its dealings with countries under sanction or isolation from the...

This paper examines the use of sexual violence as a political strategy during elections in Zimbabwe. It argues that the transitional justice discourse in the country has been defined narrowly and unwittingly focuses on civil and political rights abuses; thus failing to capture the subtle dimensions of structural inequalities suffered by women. Acco...