ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates by focusing on China's relations with Africa, whether or not the approach of the BRICS powers, with their different interests and strategies, portend structural transformation in the hegemonic order can only be explored contextually. By focusing on the broader global context, as well as the neo-patrimonial nature of local political economies, it brings into view the possibilities of changing governance and development outcomes on the continent. The chapter examines whether or not Africa's economic revival, led by rising global commodity prices and the dramatically increased engagement of the BRICS, in particular China, with the continent over the last decade, has or will lead to any kind of wider structural transformation. The role of the BRICS in Africa has received an enormous amount of attention, largely because of its implications for the nature of politics, development, and governance on the continent.
