“It takes two to tango” : A field study of the institutional impact from Chinese development cooperation

Sammanfattning: China’s development model is gaining traction across the developing world, particularly in Africa. As China’s role grows larger in importance for the future development of the African continent, it becomes of significance to examine what this role actually entails. This study explored areas where Chinese development cooperation could have an institutional impact. It did so by conducting elite interviews in one of the countries with most extensive Chinese cooperation in Africa – Sudan. The study found the most prevalent area for institutional impact to be corruption. The case of Sudan showed how China potentially could have introduced a whole new practice of corruption in the Sudanese repertoire. That said, while institutional theory shows it could be possible, the evidence is unreliable. The results does however emphasis the importance for policy-makers, especially in institutional reform, to pay attention to whether China is actively cooperating with the nation of interest, as it possibly could mean a more challenging institutional environment. The future development of the African continent are in many ways uncertain, but it is safe to say China will play their part. Academia could, and should, continue to assist in shedding light on their practices and the significance they could hold.