CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2023
| Author | Sirijintana, Worrawit |
|---|---|
| Title | Unraveling African Agency in Shaping Education Cooperation with China: a Case Study of Kenya |
| Summary | Education cooperation between China and Africa is often understood through the lens of China's soft power strategy, which overshadow the active role of African governments in exploiting the ongoing competition between China and the US. This thesis investigates the African perspective in education cooperation with China through the case study of Kenya. It poses the question: how has Kenyan agency in the education cooperation with China evolved? Building on the concept of African agency, which refers to the ability of African countries to act independently and make their own decisions in the context of international relations, this study argues that China's increased engagement in Africa's education sector has created more opportunities for Kenya to expand its agency. Kenyan agency is evident through various indicators, such as significant alignments between its education development priorities and the outcomes of cooperation frameworks with China, such as FOCAC, BRI, and other China’s direct initiatives. The study also suggests that the level of agency in education cooperation is influenced to some extent by political and economic dynamics at the domestic level. Conducted through documentary research, using available secondary data, this thesis aims to explore the extent to which the Kenyan government exerts its agency in education cooperation with China. This contributes, through the case of Kenya, a more nuanced understanding of China-Africa relations in the education sector and contributes to the literature on African agency – and China’s relations with Africa more generally - in the field of education cooperation. |
| Supervisor | Large, Daniel; vom Hau, Matthias |
| Department | School of Public Policy MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2023/sirijintana_worrawit.pdf |
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