Apr 20, 2023

The Micro-Geopolitics of Kenya's Digital Renaissance

A Discussion with Andrea Pollio

Andrea Pollio

Hosted by Second Cold War Observatory

Summary

In this episode, we talk with Dr. Andrea Polio about his research on Chinese technology companies in Nairobi, Kenya, and how African cities have emerged as proxy arenas where different modes of international relations are given effect through the development of infrastructure. He discusses how African cities are crucial actors and sites of the geopolitics of digital infrastructure, which will increasingly be one of the key geopolitical arenas of the 21st century as the US, China, and the EU compete for global influence with new programs of development finance. In a related paper, Dr. Pollio argues that urban areas are already beholden to competition between different state actors and units of capital for infrastructure networks in the global south. In this context, Africa's fast-growing metropolises have emerged as testbeds of shifts in the geopolitics of information towards multipolar magnets of power.

Dr. Andrea Pollio is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow jointly at the Department of Urban and Regional Studies of the Polytechnic of Turin and at the African Centre for Cities of the University of Cape Town, where his research addresses the impact of private Chinese technology companies in Nairobi's Silicon Savannah. His broader work explores the interface between technology economies, development, and urbanization in Africa. He has also studied the impact of private Chinese capital on two East-African cities (Addis Ababa and Nairobi) that have emerged as key destinations for the urbanization of Chinese investments in the continent.

Twitter: @andretwp

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Second Cold War Observatory

This podcast is produced by Jessica DiCarlo and Seth Schindler through The Second Cold War Observatory, a collective of scholars committed to advancing historically and contextually situated understandings of contemporary great power rivalry.

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