Examining the Belt and Road Initiative in the Context of Africa’s Economic Future

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue explores the role of China’s Belt and Road initiative for sustainable transport and logistics connectivity in Africa for socio-economic progress. It will collate a collection of papers which, in addition to examining the architecture of the project, will critically interrogate the anticipated benefits against potential social, economic, and political challenges.  Since its inception in 2013, the BRI has attracted a lot of international scrutiny and debate, particularly surrounding its design and architecture (e.g., Huang, 2016 [1]; Huges et al., 2016 [2]), speculations about its role in China’s global political ambitions (e.g., Hurley et al, 2019 [3]; Johnston, 2019 [4]), and the potential socio-economic and environmental implications (both globally and specifically for participating countries) (Teo et al., 2019 [5]; Herrero and Xu, 2017 [6]; De Soyres et al., 2019 [7]; Githaiga et al., 2019 [8]). As its implementation progresses, the literature has turned to the initial impacts for the connectivity of global logistics, particularly to the emerging patterns of regional connectivity and the associated international infrastructure projects (Liu et al, 2020 [9]; Han and Webber, 2020 [10]).  This Special Issue will extend these debates, with a focus on one of the key regional links in the BRI—the African continent.

[1] Huang, Y. Understanding China's Belt & Road initiative: motivation, framework and assessment. China Econ. Rev. 2016, 40, 314–321.

[2] Hughes, A.C., Lechner, A.M., Chitov, A., Horstmann, A., Hinsley, A., Tritto, A., Chariton, A., Li, B.V., Ganapin, D., Simonov, E. and Morton, K., Horizon scan of the belt and road initiative. Trends Ecol. Evol. 2020, 35, 583–593.

[3] Hurley, J., Morris, S. and Portelance, G., Examining the debt implications of the Belt and Road Initiative from a policy perspective. J. Infrastruct. Policy Dev. 2019, 3, 139–175.

[4] Johnston, L.A. The Belt and Road Initiative: what is in it for China? Asia Pac. Policy Stud. 2019, 6, 40–58.

[5] Teo, H.C., Lechner, A.M., Walton, G.W., Chan, F.K.S., Cheshmehzangi, A., Tan-Mullins, M., Chan, H.K., Sternberg, T. and Campos-Arceiz, A. Environmental impacts of infrastructure development under the belt and road initiative. Environments 2019, 6, 72.

[6] Herrero, A.G. and Xu, J. China's belt and road initiative: Can Europe expect trade gains? China World Econ. 2017, 25, 84–99.

[7] De Soyres, F., Mulabdic, A., Murray, S., Rocha, N. and Ruta, M. How much will the Belt and Road Initiative reduce trade costs? Int. Econ. 2019, 159, 151–164.

[8] Githaiga, N.M., Burimaso, A., Wang, B. and Ahmed, S.M. The belt and road initiative: Opportunities and risks for Africa’s connectivity. China Q. Int. Strateg. Stud. 2019, 5, 117–141.

[9] Liu, W., Zhang, Y. and Xiong, W. Financing the belt and road initiative. Eurasian Geogr. Econ. 2020, 61, 137–145.

[10] Han, X. and Webber, M. From Chinese dam building in Africa to the Belt and Road Initiative: Assembling infrastructure projects and their linkages. Political Geogr. 2020, 77, 102102.

Prof. Dr. Victor Gekara
Dr. Rose Luke
Dr. Joash Mageto
Dr. Thomas Ombati
Dr. Gituro Wainaina
Guest Editors

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• belt and road initiative
• Africa
• transport connectivity
• social, economic and political implications