Dr. Tim Zajontz
| Role | Lecturer |
|---|---|
| Office hours | By appointment. Please send me an email. |
| Address | Werthmannstr. 6, 79085 Freiburg, Germany |
| Room | 02 011 |
| tim.zajontz@politik.uni-freiburg.de |
Profile
Tim Zajontz is a lecturer at the Chair for International Relations (Prof. Dr. Sandra Destradi) since October 2021. Previously, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the Centre of African Studies at the University of Edinburgh (UK) and taught courses at the University of St Andrews (UK) and at Stellenbosch University (South Africa). He earned a PhD from the School of International Relations at St Andrews where he worked under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Dr. Ian Taylor on the political economy and governance of Chinese-financed infrastructure projects in Africa. His PhD research was funded by the German Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) and the British Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).
Zajontz is also an Honorary Research Fellow in the Centre for International and Comparative Politics at Stellenbosch University as well as a co-coordinator of the Collaborative Research Group 'African Politics and International Relations' of the Africa-Europe Group for Interdisciplinary Studies (AEGIS). He has previously worked in different advisory positions in German and EU politics. He is co-founder of the Germany-based, not-for-profit organisation ‘Freundeskreis Uganda e.V.’
His research centres around Africa’s international relations and political economy, with a particular focus on Southern and Eastern Africa as well as on Africa-China relations. His current research interests are infrastructure politics, especially in the context of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), dynamics of indebtedness and dependency and conceptual questions related to structure-agency dialectics in China-Africa interactions, economic imperialisms, late neoliberalism and the production of space in international relations. Tim Zajontz has conducted research in Botswana, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Academic CV
| Since 10/2021 | Lecturer at the Chair for International Relations (Prof. Dr. Sandra Destradi) |
|---|---|
| Since 01/2020 | Honorary Research Fellow, Centre for International and Comparative Politics, Stellenbosch University, South Africa |
| 07/2020 – 07/2021 | Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the project ‘African Governance and Space: Transport Corridors, Border Towns and Port Cities in Transition (AFRIGOS)’, Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh, UK |
| 03/2020 – 01/2021 | Adjunct Lecturer in the School of International Relations, University of St Andrews, UK |
| 2015 – 2020 | PhD Candidate Title of PhD dissertation: The Chinese Infrastructural Fix in Africa: A Strategic-Relational Analysis of Zambia’s “Road Bonanza” and the Rehabilitation of TAZARA Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Ian Taylor, Dr. Vassilios Paipias Several research stays in Tanzania and Zambia Scholarships: Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Friedrich Ebert Foundation |
| 01/2015 – 12/2017 | Research Associate, Centre for International and Comparative Politics, Stellenbosch University, South Africa |
| 2014 – 2016 | Associate Lecturer, Department of Political Science, Stellenbosch University, South Africa |
| 01/2011 – 10/2012 | M.A. in International Studies, Stellenbosch University, South Africa Thesis title: Regionalism in theory and practice: The transformative potential of civil society in Southern Africa Scholarship: Friedrich Ebert Foundation |
| 08/2010 – 12/2010 | M.A. in International Studies (1st part), Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)/Bjørknes University College, Oslo, Norway Scholarship: Friedrich Ebert Foundation |
| 10/2007 – 07/2010 | B.A. in Political Science and Public Law, University of Heidelberg, Germany Scholarship: Friedrich Ebert Foundation |
| 09/2009 – 01/2010 | Erasmus mobility programme, University of Leuven, Belgium |
Research Interests
- African international relations, politics and political economy
- Africa-China and Africa-EU relations
- Economic governance and state-society relations
- Regionalisms and regional integration
- Neo-Marxian, neo-Gramscian and postcolonial approaches
- Critical realist philosophy of science
Publications
Journal articles
- Zajontz, Tim (2021). ‘Debt, distress, dispossession: towards a critical political economy of Africa’s financial dependency’, Review of African Political Economy, online first, https://doi.org/10.1080/03056244.2021.1950669.
- Carmody, Pádraig, Taylor, Ian and Zajontz, Tim (2021). ‘China’s Spatial Fix and “Debt Diplomacy” in Africa: Constraining Belt or Road to Economic Transformation?’, Canadian Journal of African Studies, online first, https://doi.org/10.1080/00083968.2020.1868014.
- Zajontz, Tim (2020). ‘The Chinese infrastructural fix in Africa: Lessons from the Sino-Zambian “road bonanza”’, Oxford Development Studies, online first, https://doi.org/10.1080/13600818.2020.1861230.
- Taylor, Ian and Zajontz, Tim (2020). ‘In a fix: Africa’s place in the Belt and Road Initiative and the reproduction of dependency’, South African Journal of International Affairs 27(3): 277-295, https://doi.org/10.1080/10220461.2020.1830165.
- Zajontz, Tim and Leysens, Anthony (2015). ‘Regionalism Revised: A Critical-reflectivist Framework for Engaging the Changing Nature of Developing Regionalisms in Africa’, Politikon: South African Journal of Political Studies 42(3): 299-323, https://doi.org/10.1080/02589346.2015.1104465.
- Zajontz, Tim and Leysens, Anthony (2015). ‘Civil Society in Southern Africa – Transformers from Below?’, Journal of Southern African Studies 41(4): 887-904, https://doi.org/10.1080/03057070.2015.1060091.
For a comprehensive list of publications, please follow this link.
Media Work
For a list of interviews and media commentary, please follow this link.
Teaching
| Summer term 2022 | Advanced course: The International Relations of 'Sub-Saharan Africa' Department of Political Science, University of Freiburg |
|---|---|
| Summer term 2022 | Undergraduate course: Foundations of International Relations and Global Politics Department of Political Science, University of Freiburg |
| Winter term 2021/22 | Advanced course: Global Political Economy and the Global South Department of Political Science, University of Freiburg |
| Winter term 2021/22 | Exercise course accompanying the lecture ‘Introduction to Political Science’ Department of Political Science, University of Freiburg |
| First term 2020/21 | Honours (4th year) module: The International Relations of Sub-Saharan Africa School of International Relations, University of St Andrews |
| Second term 2019/20 | Honours (4th year) module: The International Relations of Sub-Saharan Africa School of International Relations, University of St Andrews |
| Second term 2016 | Senior honours (4th year) module: Global Political Economy Department of Political Science, Stellenbosch University |
| Second term 2015 | Senior honours (4th year) module: Global Political Economy Department of Political Science, Stellenbosch University |
| Second term 2014 | Senior honours (4th year) module: Global Political Economy Department of Political Science, Stellenbosch University |