China’s massive ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ (BRI) – designed to build infrastructure and coordinate policymaking across Eurasia and eastern Africa – is widely seen as a clearly-defined, top-down ‘gr...

Understanding China’s ‘Belt and Road Initiative’: beyond ‘grand strategy’ to a state transformation analysis

The foreign policy of the European Union, by Stephan Keukeleire and Jennifer MacNaughtan, Basingstoke, Palgrave, 2008, xvii + 374 pp., £22.99 (paperback), ISBN 9781403947222 While there is certainl...

The foreign policy of the European Union

This article draws attention to the transformation of statehood under globalisation as a crucial dynamic shaping the emergence and conduct of ‘rising powers’. That states are becoming increasingly fragmented, decentralised and internationalised is noted by some international political economy and global governance scholars, but is neglected in International Relations treatments of rising powers. This article critiques this neglect, demonstrating the importance of state transformation in understanding emerging powers’ foreign and security policies, and their attempts to manage their increasingly transnational interests by promoting state transformation elsewhere, particularly in their near-abroad. It demonstrates the argument using the case of China, typically understood as a classical ‘Westphalian’ state. In reality, the Chinese state’s substantial disaggregation profoundly shapes its external conduct in overseas development assistance and conflict zones like the South China Sea, and in its promotion of extraterritorial governance arrangements in spaces like the Greater Mekong Subregion.

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Rising powers and state transformation: The case of China

China's unprecedented economic growth path over the last two decades has been paralleled by an exponential growth in the consumption of natural resources and in pollution. Initially, China mainly exploited domestic resources to fuel its rapid industrial development. But over the last decade, increasing shares of China's natural resources consumption and environmental impacts relate to peripheral regions, including sub-Saharan Africa. China's environmental impacts in peripheral regions seem in line with World-Systems Theory predictions for ascending world powers. This paper assesses the extent to which the World-Systems Theory idea of ‘environmentally unequal exchange’ between ascending world powers and peripheral economies reflects current behaviour of Chinese governmental authorities and companies in sub-Saharan Africa. It concludes that the theory only partly does so. Behaviour of Chinese governmental authorities and firms is conditioned and guided by environmental norms, as well. World-Systems Theory has to make conceptual space for such new environmental behaviour of ascending world powers, to understand the contemporary and future world-systems. At the same time, China has a long way to go before becoming the ‘green’ exemplar for the world to follow.

China's ascent and Africa's environment

The text and data in this publication may be reproduced as long as the source is cited. Reproduction for commercial purposes is forbidden. The Working Paper Series (WPS) is produced by the Development Research Department of the African Development Bank. The WPS disseminates the findings of work in progress, preliminary research results, and development experience and lessons, to encourage the exchange of ideas and innovative thinking among researchers, development practitioners, policy makers, and donors. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in the Bank's WPS are entirely those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the view of the African Development Bank, its Board of Directors, or the countries they represent. Abstract China's growth and its capacity to move in thirty years from under-development and extreme poverty to an emerging global power and one of the largest exporter of manufactured goods has attracted the attention of many developing countries. China has served as a development model for Africa and an alternative source of trade and finance from Africa's traditional development partners. The impact of China on African economies has been diverse, depending in part on the sectoral composition of each country's production. Overall, China's increased engagement with Africa could generate important gains for African economies. This paper analyzes the different impacts of China on Africa, quantifies the advantages and disadvantages, and policy suggestions necessary to maximize the development impact of China. One overriding consideration is that reaping the full benefits from Chinese trade and investment will require substantial improvements in governance in African economies.

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China's Trade and FDI in Africa

Chinese Provinces as Foreign Policy Actors in Africa

China’s diplomacy has become increasingly multi-layered, as provinces and cities step up efforts to expand their networks and involvement in foreign affairs. This article aims to provide a general picture about how Chinese provinces feature in the overall Chinese foreign policy system. Specifically, the article uses two cases to illustrate how such a multi-layered diplomatic system functions to meet the interests of the national and local governments. The first case discusses the role of Yunnan province in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) Economic Cooperation. Yunnan’s involvement in GMS as a local actor demonstrates how cross-border cooperation has served local developmental interest as well as China’s national foreign policy goals. It also gave rise to a new form in China’s multi-layered diplomacy, namely multi-layered multilateral diplomacy. The second case is the engagement of China’s provinces in Africa. The article identifies Chinese provinces’ roles in Africa as traders, investors, aid providers and intergovernmental actors. The article also discusses how foreign countries and China itself should cope with China’s new multi-layered engagement in international affairs.

The Provinces and China's Multi-Layered Diplomacy: The Cases of GMS and Africa

This paper explores the diplomatic strategies of three major international actors – the United States (US), China and the European Union (EU) – in order to better understand current patterns of international relations. Relevant factors are identified in order to categorise strategies as “unilateral”, “bilateral”, “multilateral” or “pluralistic”. Applying an actor-centred perspective, the paper argues that the mixture of an actor’s diplomatic strategies remains rather stable over time. At the same time, the analysis shows that very different strategic considerations can lead to the same outcome, such as active participation in the multilateral framework of the United Nations. Nadia Klein Wulf Reiners Email nadia.klein@uni-koeln.de Email wulf.reiners@uni-koeln.de Chen Zhimin Jian Junbo Email zhmchen@fudan.edu.c Email jianjunbo@fudan.edu.cn Ivo Slosarcik Email islosarcik@europeum.org http://www.mercury-fp7.net

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Diplomatic Strategies of Major Powers: Competing Patterns of International Relations?

The author analyzes the crisis of modern democracy from the two aspects of the difficulty of democratic motion and restrictation of democratic system

On the Crisis of Modern Democracy

This chapter examines the case study of Chinese foreign policy toward the Darfur crisis and how Beijing responded to this unanticipated series of challenges to its non-intervention policy. The role of Beijing as a mediator and promoter of peaceful solutions to the unfolding events in Darfur is emphasized, shedding light on the aims and aspirations of Chinese foreign policy in Africa. Understanding how Beijing conceptualizes its role and the impact that this has had on policy approaches are unpacked in detail in this study.

Jian Junbo

Papers

Chinese Provinces as Foreign Policy Actors in Africa

The Provinces and China's Multi-Layered Diplomacy: The Cases of GMS and Africa

Diplomatic Strategies of Major Powers: Competing Patterns of International Relations?

On the Crisis of Modern Democracy

China in International Conflict Management