Western involvement in Africa extends from massive corporate investment in mineral extraction and technology, to direct government aid and a network of programmes run by NGOs. China is now also heavily involved in investment in Africa. But the impact of these interventions may produce either different outcomes from those intended, or be detrimental to the economic, social and political development of the countries concerned. Alastair Fraser lectures at SOAS in the Department of Politics and International Studies and is on the Editorial Working Group of the Review of African Political Economy. His research includes: the politics of ‘call-in’ radio and television; the privatisation of the copper mining industry; the strategies African states deploy to negotiate with foreign aid donors; and the relationships between technocracy, democratisation and populist modes of political mobilisation. He will look at how foreign aid donors, international NGOs and multinational companies promote their preferred economic and social agendas in Africa, and how African elites and citizens respond to these influences.