@article{35006f9d0f244e6c89ba5703fa6516e4,
title = "Connectivity and competition: the emerging geographies of Africa{\textquoteright}s {\textquoteleft}Ports Race{\textquoteright}",
abstract = "This paper critically analyses Africa{\textquoteright}s {\textquoteleft}Ports Race{\textquoteright}, the massive increase in port infrastructure investment taking place across the continent since the mid-2000s. It argues that the phenomenon shapes, and is shaped by, three interconnected trends: (1) an emerging material–political–institutional lock-in to a new extractivist paradigm of capital accumulation; (2) continental governments{\textquoteright} growing embrace of state-led development strategies; and (3) the repackaging of globalized discourses of connectivity and idealized visions of modernity by elites to legitimize both their own political positions and what are often exploitative and environmentally destructive practices/processes. Taken together, these developments point to novel configurations of engagement playing out across the continent between transnational capital and political elites.",
keywords = "Africa, development, infrastructure, megaprojects, ports",
author = "Ricardo Reboredo and Elisa Gambino",
note = "Funding Information: Despite these examples of ports as spaces of intra-elite consensus-building, we also view them as possible fault lines for future conflict. Unpacking this assertion requires an examination of the varied character of port development. As evident in , highly flexible approaches in terms of financing and development have been chosen by countries upgrading their maritime infrastructure. For example, while some place national port authorities or parastatal actors in charge of the developments, others partner with foreign state-owned enterprises or privately owned MNCs. Financing is similarly varied, encompassing Chinese policy banks, Western IFIs and African governments. The Port of Tema{\textquoteright}s US$1.5 billion expansion, for instance, was partly funded by the IFC, part of the World Bank Group. Indeed, as Wethal () notes, the World Bank Group and others – such as the African Development Bank (AfDB) – have significantly scaled up their support for infrastructure, effectively reproducing (and sedimenting) the infrastructure-focused agenda in the development field. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 Regional Studies Association.",
year = "2023",
month = jun,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1080/23792949.2022.2115933",
language = "English",
volume = "8",
pages = "142--161",
journal = "Area Development and Policy",
issn = "2379-2949",
publisher = "Routledge",
number = "2",
}
