Introduction

Chinese engagement in the continent of Africa has grown exponentially in the last decade. Although, historically, China's trade and economic activities in the region have attracted most attention (Mohan and Power, 2008), it is increasingly recognised that Sino-African cooperation now also embraces development aid and social welfare assistance. However, there is awareness that Chinese assistance in Africa appears to be mediated under a different set of normative premises, institutional actors and policy mechanisms from traditional bilateral and intergovernmental institutions (Chin and Frolic, 2007; Alden et al, 2008; Brautigam, 2008; Davies et al, 2008; Brautigam, 2009) and interest in whether a new and distinctive Chinese approach to development in Africa is emerging.

In this context, the research presented in this chapter examines the Chinese ‘model’ of social development in Africa in terms of the instruments and mechanisms used to deliver it and the normative goals underpinning it, and compares it with current Western donor approaches. The focus is important since it has implications for social policy and welfare arrangements in developing countries. Although for advanced welfare economies, analysis has traditionally centred on the role of the nation state in explaining social policy dynamics, there is growing understanding that in a developing-country context, the influence of international development actors and institutions on social policies is paramount (Deacon, 1997; Hall and Midgley, 2004). Although policy models and prescriptions in developing countries have been traditionally influenced by European and North American institutions (Midgley, 2004; Deacon, 2007; De Haan, 2007; Adésíná, 2008), the new phenomenon of ‘South–South’ interactions potentially changes this. Investigating the nature and processes of Chinese aid and social assistance in areas such as health and education in Africa thus provides new momentum to our understanding of the ways in which policy processes and outcomes in developing countries are shaped by transnational and globalisation processes (Yeates, 2008).

The chapter first briefly introduces the main social policy debates surrounding the relationship between the economic and social dimensions of development and the notion of a ‘fourth world of productivist welfare capitalism’ beyond the three Western ideal types characterised by Esping-Andersen's welfare regime typology. It then discusses to what extent China's approach to social development at home and in Africa is guided by this fourth welfare regime.