About

China’s role and strategy in global development have become the object of an intense debate, especially as challenges and contestations have emerged along the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Whether the BRI is interpreted as a blueprint for geopolitical, strategic, or economic expansion, much of the academic discussion remains bounded to Eurocentric, methodological statism and nationalism. What does the BRI tell us about China’s role in transforming the global political space? This project is primarily concerned with China’s global ambitions in distant regional orders, and with the necessity to understand the space and scale of China’s international aspirations in less state-centric categories. What does the BRI tell us about China-Africa engagement in transforming or adapting development practices (in particular, in the field of development finance and procurement)? The research will first focus on the Chinese official discourse and academic debate on the BRI and then turn to the analysis of BRI projects in one regional context: East Africa.

If interested in knowing more about the project, please send an email to debora.malito@xjtlu.edu.cn