Publications

Peer-Reviewed Publications

(with Yujun Zou) “Fragmenting China: a relational approach to analyzing Chinese private companies in Africa” Review of International Political Economy (2025) 32(4):1051-1072. 

“The Liberal International Order as an Imposition: A Postcolonial Reading.” Ethics & International Affairs (2024) 38(2): 162–79. 

“Africa-Asia: a Tale of Worldmaking between Alterity and Contestation” African Affairs (2024) 123 (491): 223–241. 

(with Dan Large) “The ‘Master Key to Solving All Problems’? Unpacking China’s Development as Security Approach in Mali” Third World Quarterly (2022) 44 (1): 211-229. 

(with Ilaria Carrozza) “South-South Knowledge Production and Hegemony: Searching for Africa in Chinese IR Theories” International Studies Review (accepted, forthcoming).

Benabdallah, Lina. 2021. “Spanning Thousands of Miles and Years: Political Nostalgia and China’s Revival of the Silk Road.” International Studies Quarterly 65 (2): 294–305.

Benabdallah, Lina. 2020. “Power or Influence? Making Sense of China’s Evolving Party-to-Party Diplomacy in Africa,” African Studies Quarterly 19 (3-4): 95–119. 

Benabdallah, Lina. 2019. “Contesting the international order by integrating it: the case of China’s Belt and Road initiative.” Third World Quarterly 40 (1): 92-108.

Benabdallah, Lina. 2019. “Explaining Attractiveness: Knowledge Production in China’s Policy for Africa.” Journal or International Relations and Development 22 (2): 495–514.

Benabdallah, Lina. 2019. “A Comparative Insight into China-Arab States and China-Africa Relations,” South Africa Journal for International Affairs Policy Insight 67.

Benabdallah, Lina. 2016. “China’s Peace and Security Strategies in Africa: Building Capacity is Building Security?” African Studies Quarterly 16 (3) 17 – 34.

Benabdallah, Lina. 2016. “Towards a Post-Western Global Governance? How Africa-China Relations (in)form China’s Practices.” Emerging Powers Quarterly 1 (1) 135-145.

Book Chapters

“Africa-China Relations and Global South Politics: Lessons of Solidarities and Asymmetries” (2025), in Anne Garland Mahler, Christopher J. Lee, and Monica Popescu (eds), The Oxford Handbook of the History of the Global South. 

“Emotions and Solidarity in the Global South” (2025) in Simon Koschut, and Andrew A. G. Ross (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Emotions in International Relations, Oxford Handbooks. pp. 259–272. 

“Africa and US–China Rivalry: Between Webs and Bases” in The United States and China in the Era of Global Transformations: Geographies of Rivalry edited by Salvador Santino F. Regilme Jr. Bristol: Bristol University Press, 2023. 

“Frozen in Time: China Algeria Relations from Socialist Friendship to Pandemic Opportunism” in The Routledge Handbook of China MENA Relations edited by Jonathan Fulton. New York: Routledge, 2022 pp 192 – 204. 

(with Daniel Large) “China and African Security” in New Directions in the Study of Africa and China, edited by Chris Alden and Daniel Large pp 312-327. Routledge, 2019

“Global South Perspectives” in International Relations Theory: A Practical Introduction, edited by Stephen McGlinchey and Rosie Walters. December 2017

Other Publications

“US-China-Africa Relations: A View from Africa” China Power, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) October 2025. Link here. 

“China’s Role in Africa’s Critical Minerals Landscape: Challenges and Key Opportunities” Africa Policy Research Institute (APRI) September 2024. Link here. 

“Reich der Mittler: China und der Globale Süden” International Politik, September 2024. Link here. 

“International Relations and the Problem of Literacy” in The Duck of Minerva, April 4, 2024. Link here. 

“Calling Ukrainian refugees more ‘civilized’ than Syrians requires willful amnesia” Washington Post, March 22, 2022. (With Elif Kalaycioglu and Oumar Ba). Link here. 

“China’s Soft-Power Advantage in Africa” Beijing Isn’t Just Building Roads—It’s Making Friends” Foreign Affairs, December 2021. Link here.

(with Daniel Large) “Development, Security, and China’s Evolving Role in Mali,” Working Paper No. 2020/40. SAIS CARI, Johns Hopkins University, Washington, DC. Link here.

 “Spite Won’t Beat China in Africa” Foreign Policy. January 23, 2019. Available here.

(with Winslow Robertson) “Xi Jinping pledged $60 billion for Africa. Where will the money go? Washington Post. September 17, 2018. Available here.  

 (with Deborah Brautigam and Janet Eom) “The Path Ahead: The 7th Forum on China-Africa Cooperation” SAIS-CARI Briefing paper N 1 August 2018. Available here. 

 “China-Africa military ties have deepened. Here are 4 things to know” Washington Post. July 6, 2018. Available here.