Infrastructure and the Politics of African State Agency: Shaping the Belt and Road Initiative in East Africa

Abstract Infrastructure development has experienced a political renaissance in Africa and is again at the centre of national, regional, continental agendas. At same time, China been identified by African policy-makers as particularly suitable strategic partner. As infrastructure become main pillar Sino-African cooperation, there growing analytical interest role actors shaping terms conditions and, extension, implementation projects with Chinese participation. This follows more general “agency turn” China–Africa studies, which shifted research focus onto myriad ways state non-state shape continent's engagements China. article situated within this body literature explores different forms agency context Tanzania's planned Bagamoyo port, Ethiopia's Adama wind farms, Kenya’s Lamu port. We posit non-reductionist social-relational ontology (African) sees multifaceted multi-scalar institutional ensemble. show that extent exerted are inherently interrelated thus, highly contingent upon concrete institutional, economic, political, bureaucratic contexts firmly embedded. In doing so, we make case for context-sensitive analysis various spheres particular conjunctures engagement.