China's Modernization Approach: A Genuine Break from the Past or a Repackaging of familiar Developmental Discourse for African States?

บทคัดย่อ

Many new states in the developing world after their independence adopted the western modernization approach which focuses on liberal democracy and capitalism as a panacea to their problem of low industrial productivity and underdevelopment. However, several decades after, the western modernization approach has not been able to bring about much development to the poor countries of the global south. Against this background, this article with the use of in-depth interviews and secondary   materials examines the credibility of the Chinese modernization approach as a viable alternative to development  in developing countries. Specifically, it examines the basis of the Chinese modernization approach and also investigates the extent to which the approach is a credible alternative to the western modernization approach. It also examines the significant differences in the Chinese and western modernization model. The findings of the study reveal that the Chinese developmental model offers  a lot of significant innovations to African states which makes it to be a credible alternative developmental model to the western modernization model. This is because it demonstrates the importance of state led developmental approach for a developing country in need of development. In spite of this significance, the Chinese model is not a fit for all system, hence it recommends that African states learns from the Chinese experience and evolve a system that fits their needs based on lessons leant from the model.