Prof Bhaso Ndzendze

Head of Department and Associate Professor
Name: Bhaso Ndzendze
Location: B ring 234 Auckland Park Kingsway Campus
Department of Politics and International Relations Staff, Rated Researchers  Staff Members

Contact Details:
Tel: 011 559 2896

Email: bndzendze@uj.ac.za

About Prof Bhaso Ndzendze

Brief professional biography

Bhaso Ndzendze is an Associate Professor and HOD in the Department of Politics and International Relations. His teaching includes courses on technology dynamics in international relations, international law in international relations, political history, and Africa-China relations. He has previously served in a number of roles, including most recently as the Research Director in the UJ Centre for Africa-China Studies (CACS). He completed his PhD in International Relations at the University of the Witwatersrand (2020), with his dissertation examining the interaction of institutional, democratic, economic and systematic variables for security outcomes in interstate wars among East African countries in the late twentieth century. His research and supervision areas include global trade, democracy, international conflicts, and technology.

Recent peer-reviewed publications (selected)

• 2019: ‘Is there a Reverse Correlation in Growth of Japanese and Chinese Exports to Africa? Evidence from South Africa, Kenya and Uganda, 2007-2017’, Tamkang Journal of International Affairs.
• 2019: ‘China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Linkages with the African Union’s Agenda 2063 in Historical Perspective,’ Transnational Corporations Review.
• 2020: The Continent we Construct, Verity Press: Pretoria.
• 2020: ‘Domestic Audiences and Economic Opportunity Cost: African Democratisation as a Determinant in the Recognition of China over Taiwan, 2001–2018,’ Journal of Asian and African Studies.
• 2020: ‘Turning Crisis into Opportunity? African Agricultural Exports during the Trade War,’ South African Institute of International Affairs.
• 2020: ‘Inversely Correlated? Comparing EU-27 and Chinese Exports to South Africa, 2007-2018,’ The European Foreign Affairs Review.
• 2021: Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies in International Relations (World Scientific Press).
• 2021: ‘Autochthonous Routes to Democracy: Assessing the BRICS Polities,’ The BRICS Order (Palgrave Macmillan).
• 2021: ‘Strains in Sino-Indian Relations: Whither the BRICS?,’ The BRICS Order (Palgrave Macmillan).
• 2021: ‘The Fourth Industrial Revolution in South Africa,’ Oxford Handbook of the South African Economy (Oxford University Press).
• 2021: ‘BRICS and the Economics of Terrorism,’ Latin American Report.
• 2021: The BRICS Order: Assertive or Complementing the West? – co-editor (Palgrave Macmillan).
• 2022: Artificial Intelligence and International Relations Theories (Springer).

Overview of theoretical and policy contributions

• A discovery of the determinants of African countries’ diplomatic switches from Taiwan to Mainland China by locating democracy (electoral accountability) as a source of bottom-up pressure in the making of foreign policy.
• Discovered the problem of information asymmetry in legitimacy appraisals during escalations of interstate disputes among East African countries.
• Demonstration of a lack of inverse correlation in African imports from China and traditional partners (EU and US) and Japan, thereby problematising assumptions about choice.
• A model of how artificial intelligence has reshaped state logics in foreign policy and security considerations (democratic peace and economic independence).
• A study of the implications of the US-China trade war (2018-2020) for the City of Johannesburg.
• Recommendations on the implications of the 4IR for African languages to the Universities South Africa (USAf) Community of Practice on Language.
• Advised policymakers and private sector actors on digital opportunities presented by the US-China (Huawei-Google) trade war (especially search engines).

Thought leadership platforms

• Mail and Guardian
• The Daily Maverick
• The Sunday Independent
• The Thinker
• Thought Leader
• Ubuntu Magazine

Ongoing research projects

• Africa-China Infrastructural and Industrial Cooperation: Empirical Findings and Conceptual Implications (with the China-Africa Joint Research and Exchange Programme)
• Africa and Global Digital Policy Currents (with APRI)
• US-Africa Technology Transfers (with ACSUS)
• Good Governance, Participatory Democracy, and Social Justice (supported by the Ford Foundation)
• Asia-Pacific Regional Competition and the Evolution of Sino-South African Trade