Mandira Bagwandeen

Affiliate Researcher in the South-South Dialogues Program

Dr. Mandira Bagwandeen is a lecturer at Stellenbosch University’s Department of Political Science, where she teaches courses on International Relations and Global Political Economy. She also collaborates with local and international think tanks, corporate companies, and government agencies in a consulting and advisory capacity. Before joining Stellenbosch University, she was a Senior Research Fellow at the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance at the University of Cape Town (UCT), where she undertook research on Africa’s regional integration and development, focusing on the AfCFTA, as well as the political economy of Africa-China infrastructure developments, especially railways. Mandira has provided commentary and authored several articles on African development and China-Africa issues for peer-reviewed journals and various South African and international media outlets. She has been featured in the South China Morning Post, Africa Report, Le Monde, China Global South Project, BBC News, Network 24, Xinhua News, The Council on Foreign Relations, and eNCA. She holds several affiliate positions with local and international think tanks and organisations, including: The African Centre for the Study of the US (University of the Witwatersrand), Conflict, Peacebuilding and Risk Unit (Stellenbosch University), the Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique (Foundation for Strategic Research), the Foreign Policy Research Institute, African Studies Centre (Metropolitan University Prague), Center for Applied Research in Partnership with the Orient (CARPO), and the Afro-Sino Centre of International Relations (ASCIR).

Publications

M.Bagwandeen.  2023. ‘Africa’s Railway Renaissance: Continental Aspirations vs National Realities, A Case Study of Kenya’s Mombasa-Naivasha Standard Gauge Railway.’ African Studies Quarterly, 22 (1): 1-21.

M. Bagwandeen. 2023. ‘The China Factor in Africa’s Pursuit of Digital Sovereignty.’ African Governance Papers, 1 (3): 108-135.

M. Bagwandeen, C. Edyegu and O. Otele. 2023. ‘African Agency, COVID-19 and Debt Renegotiations with China.’ South African Journal of International Affairs, 30 (1):1-27.

M. Bagwandeen. 2022. ‘Changing Realities: China-Africa Infrastructure Development,’ The National Bureau of Asian Research: Asia Policy, 17 (2):18-29. 

E. Gambino & M. Bagwandeen. 2024. A global sense of workplace: labour relations in Sino-African construction sites. In, Africa’s Global Infrastructures: South-South Transformations in Practice. Eds. J. Hönke, E. Cezne, & Y. Yang. Oxford University Press: Oxford. 

T. Zajontz & M. Bagwandeen. 2023. Chapter 8: Infrastructure. In, Yearbook on the African Union Volume 3. Ed, Ulf Engle. Brill: Leiden.

M. Bagwandeen. 2023. Chinese railways and African development: Developing railways or railing development?. In, Africa’s Railway Renaissance: The role and impact of China. Eds. T. Zajontz, P. Carmody, M. Bagwandeen, A. Leysens. Abingdon: Routledge.

Principles with Pragmatism: Insights for African Foreign Ministries’ UN Strategies, South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), Institute of Justice and Reconciliation (IJR), and Stellenbosch University, in collaboration with Gustavo de Carvalho (SAIIA) and Tim Murithi (IJR)

India-South Africa Cooperation on Education and Skill Development, Observer Research Foundation, Special Report: Charting a Future for India-South Africa Relations in a Changing World Order (August 2025)

The Art of the Deal: How Should Africa Play its Cards in a New Era of Minerals Diplomacy,’ South African Institute of International Affairs, in collaboration with Adrian Joseph, (April 2025)

‘Developing a common African approach to China in a divided world,’ Institute for Security Studies (ISS), (February 2024)

‘Development of smart ports in Africa: An opportunity for Singapore to step in,’ The NTU_SBF Centre for African Studies (CAS), (April 2022)