Yuan Wang

Abstract: Why do Chinese-funded and constructed projects that are similar in nature develop into starkly different trajectories in different African states? This question sheds light on the varying state capacity of developing countries. Divergent from existing structural explanations that stress the external agency and institutional explanations that emphasise bureaucratic capacity, I propose a political championship theory to explain variances in developing states’ capacity to deliver functional infrastructure projects. I argue that perceived threats from competitive elections engineer leader’s commitment to developmental project. When the leader has strong authority, they build a coalition to push for the implementation, leading to high effectiveness. To empirically examine the political championship theory and two competing theories: the external agency and the bureaucratic capacity arguments, I trace the process of two Chinese-funded and -constructed railway projects: the