South-South Cooperation : A case study of Ethiopia’s political and economic relations with China and Turkey

As the world system and the global political economy is under constant transformation, there is an increasing need for further research. Shifting from a North-South polarity towards a South-South-East relationship, the situation on the African continent is gaining more and more attention. The debate goes between the highly concerned alarmists warning for a new type of colonialism and those that are more opportunistic emphasizing the possibilities for underdeveloped countries to finally gain independence from Western predator claws. This thesis further explores the relationship between Ethiopia’s expanding partnerships with China and Turkey, aiming for analysis through the lens of the also highly debated dependency theory. China and Turkey both express and emphasize the economic and political rhetoric of solidarity and mutual win-win relationships. This thesis thus seeks to investigate if this can be considered the case or if instead, the driving forces behind Chinese as well as Turkish engagement in Ethiopia are to be viewed upon as purely strategical concerning political and economic self-interests. By applying a comparative case study approach when analysing the two relationships of China-Ethiopia and Turkey-Ethiopia, this thesis will examine statistics and numbers regarding the economic exchange in terms of trade, financial assistance and investment flows. The underlying driving forces behind the relationships will also be analysed before arriving at the conclusion that the relationships are indeed significantly uneven regarding power. The imbalances in the trade structures can be seen as an underlying factor of dependency. However, the characteristics of the of these South-South relations differ from the historically exploitative of North-South relations. Ethiopia can be seen to be given more room for self-determination and has gained benefits from its cooperation with both China and Turkey. Despite this, there is a need for the Ethiopian government to address its development needs and furthermore, increase its bargaining capacity in order to benefit further from trade agreements and foreign investment