Puzzling Partnerships: Chinese Soe And Humanitarian Organization Collaboration On Infrastructure Projects

Abstract

International development is often envisioned as a competitive arena in which donors compete for interests and influence. However, development projects often involve multiple actors, including host country governments, foreign governments, foreign and local firms, international non-governmental organizations, and international financial institutions. Attitudes toward these actors may vary significantly among citizens of the countries in which development projects are implemented. How do local citizens assess development projects and how does knowledge of these various actors impact their perceptions? Furthermore, which actors are assigned credit for positive outcomes versus blame for negative consequences? We address these questions by analyzing local public opinion toward a development project in the Democratic Republic of Congo coordinated by an international non-governmental organization, funded by a Western government, and implemented by Chinese state-owned firms. We combine a survey experiment assessing DRC citizens’ attitudes toward the project with focus groups and interviews with key informants in Africa, China, and the United States. This study, which systematically investigates local public opinion toward collaborative development projects between Western and Chinese actors in Africa, provides new empirical insight into the determinants of local support shaping both project-level outcomes and the broader politics of foreign aid.