Global Perspectives on China's Belt and Road Initiative: Asserting Agency through Regional Connectivity

book: Global Perspectives on China's Belt and Road Initiative

Open Access Published by Amsterdam University Press 2021

Global Perspectives on China's Belt and Road Initiative

Asserting Agency through Regional Connectivity

Edited by: Florian Schneider

https://doi.org/10.1515/9789048553952

Overview
Contents

About this book

2013 saw the launch of the largest, most influential investment initiative in recent memory: China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This globe-spanning strategy has reshaped local economies and regionals networks, and it has become a contested subject for scholars and practitioners alike. How should we make sense of the complex interactions that the BRI has enabled? Understanding these processes requires truly global perspectives alongside careful attention to the role that local actors play in giving shape to individual BRI projects. The contributions in this volume provide both 'big picture' assessments of China's role in regional and global interactions and detailed case studies that home in on the role agency plays in BRI dynamics. Written by leading area studies scholars with diverse disciplinary expertise, this book reveals how Chinese efforts to recalibrate the world are taken up, challenged, revamped, and reworked in diverse contexts around the world.

Author / Editor information

SchneiderFlorian:

Florian Schneider, PhD, Sheffield University, is Senior University Lecturer in the Politics of Modern China at the Leiden University Institute for Area Studies. He is managing editor of Asiascape: Digital Asia, director of the Leiden Asia Centre, and the author of three books: Staging China: the Politics of Mass Spectacle (Leiden University Press, 2019), China's Digital Nationalism (Oxford University Press, 2018), and Visual Political Communication in Popular Chinese Television Series (Brill, 2013, recipient of the 2014 EastAsiaNet book prize). In 2017, he was awarded the Leiden University teaching prize for his innovative work as an educator. His research interests include questions of governance, political communication, and digital media in China, as well as international relations in the East-Asian region.

Reviews

"This book strikes a nice balance between examining the breadth of the BRI while providing the depth of analysis necessary to understand local contexts. Unlike similar volumes that only dedicate one or two chapters to China’s influence outside of Southeast Asia, this book provides a more inclusive global perspective. [...] The detail of the local-level analysis and the geographic scope of BRI activities examined in the book set it apart from the existing literature. Interdisciplinary work is desperately needed to create a flow of information among researchers and across academic departments. This book does just that, showing that instead of retreating into our own departmental echo chambers, we should seek out and celebrate the unique benefits each field contributes to our understanding of the BRI and China’s impact on the world."
- Sarah Sklar, Boston University, The China Journal, No. 87 (2022)

Topics

Frontmatter Open Access Download PDF	1
Table of Contents Open Access Download PDF	5
Acknowledgements Open Access Download PDF	9
1 Actors and Agency in China’s Belt and Road Initiative An Introduction Florian Schneider Open Access Download PDF	11
Part I Global Connectivity
2 China’s BRI and International Cooperation in Higher Education and Research A Symbiotic Relationship Ingrid d’Hooghe Open Access Download PDF	35
3 Trade, Tax, and Development Finance Understanding China’s Choice of BRI Agreements and Institutions Michael Sampson, Jue Wang and Irma Mosquera Valderrama Open Access Download PDF	59
Part II Regional Dynamics
4 The BRI in Latin America New Wine in Old Bottle? Matt Ferchen Open Access Download PDF	97
5 Ascertaining Agency Africa and the Belt and Road Initiative Stacey Links Open Access Download PDF	113
6 Parameters and Pathways Agency in the Case of the Southern African Development Community Stacey Links Open Access Download PDF	141
7 Over Hills and Valleys Too China’s Belt and Road Initiative in the Caribbean Ruben Gonzalez-Vicente Open Access Download PDF	171
Part III Local Actors
8 The Geopolitical Relevance of the BRI The Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway in Indonesia Frans-Paul van der Putten and Mirela Petkova Open Access Download PDF	197
9 Elite Legitimation and the Agency of the Host Country Evidence from Laos, Malaysia, and Thailand’s BRI Engagement Cheng-Chwee Kuik Open Access Download PDF	217
10 The Two Faces of the China Model The BRI in Southeast Asia Matt Ferchen Open Access Download PDF	245
11 The Belt and Road Initiative in South Asia Regional Impact and the Evolution of Perceptions and Policy Responses Richard Ghiasy Open Access Download PDF	265
12 Geographic Agency Iran as a ‘Civilizational Crossroads’ in the Belt and Road Geography Mohammadbagher Forough Open Access Download PDF	291
13 Exploring the Political, Economic, and Social Implications of the Digital Silk Road into East Africa The Case of Ethiopia Sanne van der Lugt Open Access Download PDF	315
Contributors Open Access Download PDF	347

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 350
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 8
Keywords: China; Belt and Road Initiative; BRI; Agency; Connectivity

eBook

Published: January 20, 2021
ISBN: 9789048553952