Exploring China’s Impacts on Development Thinking and Policies

Abstract

In this article, we explore the impacts, actual and potential, of China’s development experiences upon development thinking and policies elsewhere. New Structural Economics, a theoretical innovation by Professor Justin Yifu Lin drawing on a longer tradition of pragmatic ‘learning by doing’ development strategies, provides a framework in which three agendas stand out: structural transformation as a policy priority; the return of industrial policy; and the use of Special Economic Zones. We integrate related drivers of growth in China: rapid urbanisation pulling in massive rural migration in an economic transformation process; the financing of provincial and city governments by improvised local government financing vehicles based on rising urban land values; and competition and accountability processes in China’s subnational governance system. While China’s experiences cannot be directly replicated elsewhere, we argue that lessons on why and how to achieve structural transformation are relevant for other developing countries, especially in fast urbanising and integrating Africa.

Comprehensive power shifts in the making: China's policy transfer partnerships with the United Nations

“…The politics of policy transfers (who receives what, how, why and from whom) have contributed to shaping the hierarchical boundaries and thus the distribution of power in the field of international development. For a long time, policy solutions transferred to the developing South through UN mechanisms were invariably shaped by the weight of Northern donors (Romano & Porto de Oliveira, 2023) economic and political 'rise' of large Southern providers (Mawdsley, 2012), leading to a new wave of policy circulation from and through the South (Constantine & Shankland, 2017;Xu & Carey, 2021). As a consequence, Southern heavyweights-led by China, Brazil and India-have significantly expanded their policy transfer activities with the UN, contributing to an increasingly complex web of cooperation-related power relations.…”

“…For a long time, policy solutions transferred to the developing South through UN mechanisms were invariably shaped by the weight of Northern donors (Romano & Porto de Oliveira, 2023). Since the 2000s, however, global cooperation dynamics have undergone significant transformations with the economic and political ‘rise’ of large Southern providers (Mawdsley, 2012), leading to a new wave of policy circulation from and through the South (Constantine & Shankland, 2017; Xu & Carey, 2021). As a consequence, Southern heavyweights—led by China, Brazil and India—have significantly expanded their policy transfer activities with the UN, contributing to an increasingly complex web of cooperation‐related power relations.…”

“…For China, in turn, the last two decades have seen an intensifying engagement with development cooperation and the sharing of development‐related policies (Xu & Carey, 2021), including with the UN development system (Baumann et al., 2024, this volume). Since the early 2000s, China has significantly expanded its South–South cooperation with other developing countries (SCIO‐PRC, 2021) and has also made use of what is commonly known as triangular cooperation, where ‘traditional donor countries and multilateral organisations facilitate South‐South initiatives through the provision of funding, training, management and technological systems’ (UNOSSC, n.d.).…”

“…In addition to the specific technical knowledge shared via China–UN transfer partnerships—such as dryland rice farming techniques in a China–FAO–Madagascar initiative (FAO, 2021)—China is also seen as having the most up‐to‐date development expertise overall. For many across the South, China's economic growth trajectory over the last decades and its largely successful fight against poverty at home resonate with its self‐description as the ‘champion of the developing world’ (Duggan, 2020) and seem to provide important lessons for development prospects elsewhere (Xu & Carey, 2021).…”