To what extent do Chinese construction firms foster linkages with the local economy and support local development outcomes? Despite increasing literature on the impact of Chinese infrastructure projects in Africa, relatively less attention has been paid to the specifics of this interaction, particularly concerning the characteristics of Chinese firms and the host country’s environment in which such partnership unfolds. Drawing on official documents, firm-level surveys and semi-structured interviews, this article examines how both private and public Chinese firms influence local development in Ethiopia’s infrastructure sector. The analysis focuses on several key factors shaping this impact, including employment generation, collaboration and subcontracting with domestic firms, technology and skills transfer and the creation of linkages between infrastructure projects and local manufacturing. The findings indicate that in Ethiopia, many Chinese companies are becoming increasingly integrated with the local economy. However, these synergies are neither uniform nor consistent across all firms or sectors. The study concludes that local economic benefits are contingent upon multiple factors, including the specific characteristics of Chinese firms, the strength of local capacity and the effectiveness of policies designed to regulate and promote local development.

This paper examines state-business relations in Somalia. It argues that the Somali case presents a unique model of private sector development, where advanced businesses in the telecommunications, banking and financial sectors emerged despite the lack of formal state structure. The establishment of a formal government in 2012, however, raised questions about the ‘nexus between state and capital’, particularly on whether state institutions were ‘pivotal’ for business. In interrogating this question, the paper employs a qualitative process tracing approach and examines the relationship between the state and one of the largest private sector players – the telecommunications sector. It focuses on tracing the tax relations, which, as the material basis of the social contract between the state and society, offered fundamental clues into the sector’s willingness to invest in the state project. The article finds that despite capital’s capacity to survive in such contexts, there are certain junctures when formal state institutions emerge as critical for business operations. Thus, rather than a straightforward structural relationship between public and private power, the Somali case explicates the moments and instances when the state becomes critical for capital accumulation and offers greater insight into the molecular processes that underlie state-capitalist relations within the African context.

The end of Operation Barkhane in the Sahel in 2022 raises many questions about French foreign policy in Africa. Yet the government has stifled public debate by insisting on the urgency of other wars in the world. As for the Members of Parliament, they never demanded an inquiry into the setbacks of France’s biggest overseas military operation since the Algerian war. Clearly, lessons were not learned. This article reviews the arguments and the political, military, historical and cultural reasons that led the Elysée to conceal, or even deny, a failure that also resulted in a loss of influence in its Francophone ‘preserve’ and among European Union partners who had overestimated the former colonial power’s ability to solve crises south of the Sahara. Blaming others, conspiracy theories and complaints about a lack of resources or the restrictions of international mandates to fight a global war on terror’ were part of the rhetorical weapons used to counter criticism, while some claimed that the end of Operation Barkhane was only a political defeat but not a military one.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s religious rhetoric and policies stand in sharp contrast to his predecessors during the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Front (EPRDF) period, who carefully and deliberately kept the political discourse free of any religious references. Many were taken by surprise by his pronounced Pentecostal faith. This surprise is arguably a reflection of how scholars and observers have ignored developments within Ethiopia’s Protestant community – and religious dynamics in general – that Abiy is a product of. This paper examines how religious developments within Ethiopia’s Protestant community produced and shaped Abiy as a Pentecostal politician. The paper also seeks to understand some of the main characteristics of the prime minister’s religious ideas and the possible impacts they may have had on his political decisions. My discussion centres on two major aspects. Countering the claims that Abiy aims to ‘Pentecostalize’ Ethiopian politics, I examine what possible implications he might have for Ethiopia’s secular framework and demonstrate how he uses religion in an inclusive way, viewing it as a resource to bring prosperity to Ethiopia. Secondly, to understand the actual content of the prime minister’s religious worldview, I analyse the affective affinities between the so-called prosperity gospel and positive thinking teachings.