J. of Modern African Studies, , (), pp. – © Cambridge University Press doi:./SX China’s example for Meles’ Ethiopia: when development ‘models’ land* ELSJE FOURIE Department of Technology and Society Studies, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Maastricht, Grote Gracht -, Maastricht, the Netherlands Email:
[email protected] ABSTRACT The past decade has seen the rapid rise of concepts such as the ‘China Model’ and the ‘Beijing Consensus’, yet more recent trends suggest a waning of their popularity. This article finds that the problem with the literature on the China model lies less with the concept itself than with a tendency to apply the term in an atheoretical and unempirical manner. From until at least , Ethiopian elites from the upper echelons downwards were indeed engaged in a conscious and voluntary attempt to emulate aspects of China’s per- ceived developmental successes. Drawing on interviews with such elites, as well as on theories of lesson-drawing and cross-societal emulation, the study sug- gests that China may act as an example to countries seeking to achieve rapid modernisation and to navigate the perilous waters of political and economic globalisation. It is only by historicising and contextualising the ‘China Model’ within the older story of selective incorporation by certain ‘latecomer’ coun- tries, however, that its true influence – and limits – can be understood. Ethiopia has a vision: within twenty to twenty-five years, her citizens will become middle-income. Like China and the Five Tigers’ visions. So she is going to be there. I truly think Meles wants to be the Deng [Xiaoping] of Ethiopia.