China's African Policies: Idealism or Realism?

The African countries gaining their independence after the World War II have recently become the focus of interest among the international actors. The DarkContinent seemingly forgotten at the time of struggle between different poles notably at the beginning of the Cold War era has increased its attraction since the 1960s with the appearance of Communist China in the African continent. Western countries after China, which started her regional policies apart from the understanding of colonialism, have as well begun to be interested in African continent. However, China which is the second biggest economy of the world (WorldBank, January 2015) and the contradiction of the use of soft power for the struggle of interest sharing in the global economic market through China’s foreign aid policies has still been a subject of debate among academics and maintained its actuality. In this article the relations between China and African countries are studied under two headings as investments and interest areas and the policies China followed in Africa are attempted to be analyzed whether they have “realist”paradigm roots or “idealist” approach origins.

Karadag, H. Uludağ Journal of Economy and Society, Vol. XXXIV, No. 2, 2015, pp. 115-129.