Derisking Developmentalism: A Tale of Green Hydrogen

Abstract

In the global race to scale up green hydrogen, a renewed appetite for the visible hand of the state once again promises to expand developmental space for low‐ and middle‐income countries. On the African continent, several countries have announced green industrialization ambitions that rely on mobilizing, through various ‘derisking’ schemes, private (institutional) capital looking for investible opportunities. To examine the transformative potential of this new derisking developmentalism, this article extends the critical macrofinance lens to include Thandika Mkandawire's theorization of post‐independence African developmental states. Using Namibia as an illustration, it argues that an assumption of ‘divine coincidence’ creates the ideological space for the state to forge derisking blocs but structurally weakens its ability to discipline private capital into pursuing green industrialization. As (foreign) capital dominates the state‒capital relationship in derisking developmentalism, the new green rules written by powerful investors and global North governments threaten to transform global South countries into consumers of green hydrogen technology and generators of yield for portfolio investors, thus reinforcing the structural drivers of their ongoing external debt vulnerabilities. Instead, countries should experiment with green public ownership and partnerships that discipline local green industries. Such strategies require replacing the Wall Street Consensus with a supportive global macrofinancial framework the authors call ‘Green Bandung Woods’.

Economic integration of Germany with EU through Effective implementation of Public Private Partnership

“…There is not a lot of writing in this area yet. Despite the abundance of literature on PPPs in the context of infrastructure and economic development, there is a paucity of understanding regarding the potential contributions of these partnerships to the European Union's predominant goal of economic integration, especially considering Germany's comparative advantage (Gabor and Sylla, 2023). Dias et al (2022) illuminate the lack of comprehensive approaches to establish and enhance PPPs aimed at bolstering economic cooperation within the European Union.…”