Between Enclaves and Integration – Chinese and African Special Economic Zones in Sub-Saharan Africa

This project compares, analyses and explains on the example of Ethiopien and Zambian case studies to what extent Chinese and African Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in Sub-Saharan Africa contribute to regional development.

This proposed study aims to analyse 1. to what extent and 2. why and under which conditions differently implemented Special Economic Zones (SEZs) of African and Chinese developers in Sub-Saharan Africa contribute to regional development or develop into disintegrated enclaves. To do this, the study novelly combines conceptual considerations of policy transfer, enclaves and global production networks (GPN). Empirically, the study will analyse and compare SEZs of Chinese and domestic African developers and their embedding regions in two different SSA countries, Ethiopia and Zambia.