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- Convenors:
-
Beril Ocaklı
(Zentrum für Osteuropa- und internationale Studien (ZOiS)Centre for East European and International Studies)
Jasmin Dall'Agnola (The George Washington University)
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- Formats:
- Roundtable
- Theme:
- Regional Studies
- Location:
- Room 103
- Sessions:
- Friday 24 June, -
Time zone: Asia/Tashkent
Short Abstract:
In this roundtable, we will forge a critical interdisciplinary dialogue on Chinese engagements in Central Eurasia and analyse different infrastructural endeavors 'on the ground' through diverse conceptual perspectives.
Long Abstract:
Infrastructure projects that originate from China and/or run under the banner of BRI are under increasing scholarly scrutiny. Despite this growing attention, situated understandings of the ever-evolving actions and reactions around Chinese/BRI engagements remain underexplored. In this proposed roundtable, we will analyse different Chinese investments and concomitant financing schemes as well as their impacts on local communities and development prospects. Beyond novel empirical contributions, our aim is to forge a critical interdisciplinary dialogue on Chinese engagements. To this end, we will discuss our empirical insights in connection with the theoretical perspectives that help us unearth differential aspects of the processes and relations enabled and altered by Chinese interventions in Central Eurasia. The commentators will draw on diverse conceptual perspectives from political sciences, development studies, institutional economics, geography, and anthropology. Specifically, our roundtable will address the following aspects and assessments of the BRI/China investments:
- How do BRI projects in the region fulfill Chinese geo-economic ambitions?
- Which discourses and promises accompany Chinese and BRI investments and how do they become lived practices and experiences?
- How do Chinese aid and financial diplomacy intervene and interact with local authoritarian tendencies?
Zarina Urmanbetova will thematise the different understandings surrounding the 'BRI' and its funding mechanisms. Valentin Krüsmann will discuss the role of the BRI in Central Eurasia from a geo-economic perspective. Pengshan Pan will examine the impact of foreign investment on workers' well-being by comparing Chinese, Western, and domestic firms across different sectors. Nurseit Niyazbekov will elaborate on the effect of Chinese foreign aid and financial diplomacy on authoritarianism in Central Asia.
Accepted contributions:
Session 1 Friday 24 June, 2022, -Zarina Urmanbetova (University of Fribourg)
Contribution short abstract:
I will thematise the different discourses and understandings surrounding the ‘BRI’ and its funding mechanisms.
Contribution long abstract:
During the round table, I will touch upon the topic of the name BRI, which has different co-names and is used in parallel by different actors; moreover, she will touch upon the topic of funding sources for infrastructure projects, which are more diverse than they are imagined.
Pengshan Pan (New Uzbekistan University)
Contribution short abstract:
During the round table, Pengshan Pan will examine the impact of foreign investment on workers' well-being by comparing Chinese, Western, and domestic firms across different sectors.
Contribution long abstract:
Pengshan Pan will examine the impact of natural resource FDI on worker welfare in Kyrgyzstan. Using geolocated household surveys, by comparing Chinese and western firms, Pengshan shows that natural resource FDI provides workers with higher wages and formal contracts, but creates greater inequality.
Valentin Kruesmann (Zentrum für Osteuropa und Internationale Studien Centre for East European and International Studies)
Contribution short abstract:
During the roundtable discussion, Valentin Krüsmann will discuss the role of the BRI in Central Eurasia from a geo-economic perspective with an eye towards infrastructure projects.
Contribution long abstract:
Bringing Chinese motivations into the roundtable discussion, Valentin Krüsmann will discuss the role of the BRI in Central Eurasia from a geo-economic perspective with an eye towards infrastructure projects. He will outline the different motivations Chinese actors have in implementing the BRI in the region and argue that despite pursuing a a variety of motivations and approaches, Chinese activities act in the geo-economic interest of the Chinese state.
Nurseit Niyazbekov (KIMEP University)
Contribution short abstract:
Does growing Chinese financial aid within the BRI framework make Central Asian states more authoritarian?
Contribution long abstract:
The effect of financial diplomacy on democratization prospects has long become a subject of numerous academic debates. In some cases, authoritarian donors push their authoritarian agendas, in others the recipients actually democratize as a result of financial aid. In my talk I will explore the effect of Chinese financial diplomacy on Central Asian authoritarian regimes. Did they become more or less democratic since the BRI was launched in 2013?