Is the impression of a new dynamism in African-Asian relations empirically correct? Is it a
process that will once be accepted as one of the fundamental transformations of World Society
in the 21st century? This volume addresses these questions in 14 chapters from a look back to
2000 years of African-Asian contacts and exchange to the analysis of the origins of this new
inter-regional dynamism. On the Asian side the focus is on China which has - with the Forum
on China-African Cooperation (FOCAC) the Belt and Road Initative with numerous infrastructure
projects development assistance resource deals and the support for the African Union in
Africa - drawn most attention but also recent initiatives by India and South Korea are
described. On the African side the recent developments in Burkina Faso Côte d'Ivoire
Ethiopia Angola Guinea Tanzania Ghana Zimbabwe and South Africa are analyzed in detail
with a special focus on the various impacts of the recent and ongoing projects and initiatives
and the conditions under which they exert developmental or detrimental economic Do we witness
the repetition of past mistakes of development policies at higher level or is this time
everything different? Patrick Ziltener is an Associate Professor at the University of Zurich
Switzerland. Christian Suter is Professor of Sociology at the University of Neuchâtel and
President of the World Society Foundation Zurich Switzerland.
