Roberto Cantoni , Marcel Llavero-Pasquina , Elia Apostolopoulou , Julien-François Gerber , Patrick Bond , Joan Martinez-Alier
{"title":"从法国到中国?非洲的生态不平等交换、新殖民主义和环境冲突","authors":"Roberto Cantoni , Marcel Llavero-Pasquina , Elia Apostolopoulou , Julien-François Gerber , Patrick Bond , Joan Martinez-Alier","doi":"10.1016/j.worlddev.2025.107015","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Africa stands out as the continent where the legacies of colonialism and the ongoing dynamics of neo- and post-colonialism are felt most profoundly. In its role as the primary global supplier of raw materials, and with the ongoing technological transition towards the so-called “smart” economy and “green” energy systems, the demand for minerals from Africa is anticipated to increase significantly. European imperialism and its historically embedded extractivist logic are indispensable to understand the conditions that gradually prompted many African states to seek new trading partners. But “coloniality” is not limited to historical colonialism. Over the last two decades China has gradually assumed a prominent role in African trade, becoming Africa’s first trading partner, and leading several scholars to ask whether China is developing a new kind of colonialism. The impact of extractive activities by European, American, and Chinese private and public companies on African resources has been profound, resulting in the shifting of socio-ecological costs from industrialised countries to the African extractive peripheries. In this work, we employ a political ecology approach to examine: i) the claims of lingering French imperialism and Chinese neocolonialism; and ii) the impact of projects implemented by actors from France and China in Africa. We mobilise the theory of ecologically unequal exchange and cases of environmental conflicts involving Chinese and French industries to demonstrate how these projects have resulted in damaging impacts over African territories, leading to land pollution and detrimental effects on community health. We find evidence of ecologically unequal exchange both in the Chinese and French cases, though the dynamics characterising the trading relations of these two countries with the ensemble of African countries is markedly different.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48463,"journal":{"name":"World Development","volume":"193 ","pages":"Article 107015"},"PeriodicalIF":5.4000,"publicationDate":"2025-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"From Françafrique to Chinafrica? Ecologically unequal exchange, neocolonialism, and environmental conflicts in Africa\",\"authors\":\"Roberto Cantoni , Marcel Llavero-Pasquina , Elia Apostolopoulou , Julien-François Gerber , Patrick Bond , Joan Martinez-Alier\",\"doi\":\"10.1016/j.worlddev.2025.107015\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"<div><div>Africa stands out as the continent where the legacies of colonialism and the ongoing dynamics of neo- and post-colonialism are felt most profoundly. In its role as the primary global supplier of raw materials, and with the ongoing technological transition towards the so-called “smart” economy and “green” energy systems, the demand for minerals from Africa is anticipated to increase significantly. European imperialism and its historically embedded extractivist logic are indispensable to understand the conditions that gradually prompted many African states to seek new trading partners. But “coloniality” is not limited to historical colonialism. Over the last two decades China has gradually assumed a prominent role in African trade, becoming Africa’s first trading partner, and leading several scholars to ask whether China is developing a new kind of colonialism. The impact of extractive activities by European, American, and Chinese private and public companies on African resources has been profound, resulting in the shifting of socio-ecological costs from industrialised countries to the African extractive peripheries. In this work, we employ a political ecology approach to examine: i) the claims of lingering French imperialism and Chinese neocolonialism; and ii) the impact of projects implemented by actors from France and China in Africa. We mobilise the theory of ecologically unequal exchange and cases of environmental conflicts involving Chinese and French industries to demonstrate how these projects have resulted in damaging impacts over African territories, leading to land pollution and detrimental effects on community health. We find evidence of ecologically unequal exchange both in the Chinese and French cases, though the dynamics characterising the trading relations of these two countries with the ensemble of African countries is markedly different.</div></div>\",\"PeriodicalId\":48463,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"World Development\",\"volume\":\"193 \",\"pages\":\"Article 107015\"},\"PeriodicalIF\":5.4000,\"publicationDate\":\"2025-05-05\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"World Development\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"96\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X25001007\",\"RegionNum\":1,\"RegionCategory\":\"经济学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q1\",\"JCRName\":\"DEVELOPMENT STUDIES\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"World Development","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X25001007","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"DEVELOPMENT STUDIES","Score":null,"Total":0}
From Françafrique to Chinafrica? Ecologically unequal exchange, neocolonialism, and environmental conflicts in Africa
Africa stands out as the continent where the legacies of colonialism and the ongoing dynamics of neo- and post-colonialism are felt most profoundly. In its role as the primary global supplier of raw materials, and with the ongoing technological transition towards the so-called “smart” economy and “green” energy systems, the demand for minerals from Africa is anticipated to increase significantly. European imperialism and its historically embedded extractivist logic are indispensable to understand the conditions that gradually prompted many African states to seek new trading partners. But “coloniality” is not limited to historical colonialism. Over the last two decades China has gradually assumed a prominent role in African trade, becoming Africa’s first trading partner, and leading several scholars to ask whether China is developing a new kind of colonialism. The impact of extractive activities by European, American, and Chinese private and public companies on African resources has been profound, resulting in the shifting of socio-ecological costs from industrialised countries to the African extractive peripheries. In this work, we employ a political ecology approach to examine: i) the claims of lingering French imperialism and Chinese neocolonialism; and ii) the impact of projects implemented by actors from France and China in Africa. We mobilise the theory of ecologically unequal exchange and cases of environmental conflicts involving Chinese and French industries to demonstrate how these projects have resulted in damaging impacts over African territories, leading to land pollution and detrimental effects on community health. We find evidence of ecologically unequal exchange both in the Chinese and French cases, though the dynamics characterising the trading relations of these two countries with the ensemble of African countries is markedly different.
期刊介绍:
World Development is a multi-disciplinary monthly journal of development studies. It seeks to explore ways of improving standards of living, and the human condition generally, by examining potential solutions to problems such as: poverty, unemployment, malnutrition, disease, lack of shelter, environmental degradation, inadequate scientific and technological resources, trade and payments imbalances, international debt, gender and ethnic discrimination, militarism and civil conflict, and lack of popular participation in economic and political life. Contributions offer constructive ideas and analysis, and highlight the lessons to be learned from the experiences of different nations, societies, and economies.