India’s Infrastructure Building In Africa: South-South Cooperation And The Abstraction Of Responsibility

Abstract A growing debate concerns the developmental implications of booming relations between ‘Southern’ powers and countries across Africa. Whilst mainstream commentary worries about nefarious influences, others explore supposedly increasing ‘African agency’, a term capturing ability African states to define their international relations. South-South Cooperation, given its supposed principles asserting sovereignty, non-interventionism, demand-led projects, is understood boost such agency. This article analyses claims with detailed case study Indian governmental infrastructure financing in Africa, Nyabarongo Dam Rwanda, filling significant gap concerning under-researched India–Africa Originally, cooperation was rooted programme that combined technical radical political critique global power call for reform. However, this India’s concessional finance suggests twenty-first century manifestation, Cooperation often decoupled from programme, leaving only open-ended, depoliticized state-to-state initiatives. The demonstrates whilst development generated useful opportunities, it acted empower companies exacerbated Rwandan state’s structural regulatory weaknesses. traces policymaking practices cooperation, showing decoupling ambitions results narrow focus an abdication responsibility outcomes, marginalizing accountability average citizens.