China's Belt and Road Initiative in Western Asia from the perspective of international political economy theories

Document Type : Research

Authors

1 Ph.D Candidate of International Relations, Department of Political Science and IR Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.

2 Associate Professor Department of Political Science and IR Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is basically a global project and thus the existing literature has explored it broadly. This article seeks to explore the literature especially those focused on the BRI’s effects in Western Asia. This literature has tried to explain it by employing international relations and political economy theories. By dividing this literature into four categories of realist, liberalist, constructivist, and Marxist, this article argues that despite the importance of the analysis of BRI in Western Asia by the existing literature, they are often based on predictions without enough objective data and are also reductionist. In a way that some have approached it via power politics (realism), some others through politics of wealth (liberalism), some via identity politics (constructivism), and finally some through the class politics (Marxism). By comparing the existing approaches, this article argues that Keohane and Nye’s theory of international regimes, which is not being used in any existing theory about Belt and Road Initiative in Western Asia, provides a better theoretical framework for analyzing the BRI in Western Asia, because it takes into consideration some important factors such as developments in technological field, the growth rate of gross domestic product, and the governments’ objectives in pursuing economic policies and it fits better the objective data and realities of contemporary Western Asia.

Keywords

References

References
Al-Rawashdeh, Mohammad Salim, and Mohammad Hamad AL-Qatatsheh (2017), “China's Strategy in the Middle East (The Silk Road Project)”, IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science (IOSR-JHSS), vol. 22, no. 1.
Asgarkhani, Abu Mohammad (2002), “Theory of International Regimes”, Journal of the Faculty of Law and Political Science, University of Tehran, vol. 57, no. 508 (in Persian).
Atlı, Altay (2015, March), “A View from Ankara: Turkey’s Relations with China in a Changing Middle East”, Mediterranean Quarterly, Duke University Press.
Barchil, Scott et al. (2014), Theories of International Relations, Translated by Moshirzadeh and Talebi, Tehran: Mizan (in Persian).
Ciurtin, Horia (2017, December), “A Pivot to Europe: China, s Belt-And-Road Balancing Act”, Bucharest, Policy Briefs Series, no. 5, European Institute of Romania.
De Decker, Victor (2017-2018), “The Geoeconomics Behind the Belt and Road Initiative How the BRI is Shaping A New Geoeconomic Order”, Wetenschappelijke Verhandeling Aantal Woorden: 18124: 01405854, Promotor: Prof. dr. Mattias Vermeiren, Masterproef Voorgelegd voor het Behalen van de Graad Master in de Richting Internationale Politiek, Academiejaar.
Der Merwe, Justin van (2019), “The One Belt One Road Initiative: Reintegrating Africa and the Middle East into China’s System of Accumulation”, in Mapping China’s ‘One Belt One Road’ Initiative, Li Xing (ed.), International Political Conomy Series, M. Shaw Timothy (Series ed,), Palgrave Macmillan.
Diolio, Eugene (2013), Theory and Problems of Macroeconomics, Translated by Hamid Reza Arbab, Tehran: Nashr-e Ney (in Persian).
Dorsey, James M. (2016, 18 March), “China and The Middle East: Venturing into the Maelstrom”, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies Singapore, no. 296.
Ergenc, Ceren (2015), “Can Two Ends of Asia Meet? An Overview of Contemporary Turkey-China Relations”, East Asia, no. 32.
Feng, Chaoling (2015), Embracing Interdependence: The Dynamics of China and the Middle East, Brookings Institution.
Frieden, Jeffry A. and Ronald Rogowski (1996), “The Impact of the International Economy on National Policies: An Analytical Overview”, in Internationalization and Domestic Politics, Robert O. Keohane, Helen V. Milner, Cambridge University Press.
Fulton, Jonathan David (2017), “The G.C.C. Countries and China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Hamilton, John, SingWhat Tee, and Linda Forbes (2018), “China's BRI Expansion Approach: Culture”, 1-ICCBTHS & 22-ICIT: 2-4/4/18 at BITZH ST-4: Tech. Inno. Impact on Cultural Values in OBOR 4-4 P- 1.
Harvey, David (2018), “David Harvey’s Response to John Smith on Imperialism”, Posted on 23 Feb 2018 by URPE:https://urpe.wordpress.com/2018/02/23/david-harveys-response-to-john-smith-on-imperialism/
Hasenclever, Andreas, Peter Mayer, and Volker Rittberger (2004), “Theories of International Regimes”, in International Political Economy, Roger Tooze Craig N. Murphy, Cambridge University Press.
Hayoun, Massoud (2013), “Strange Bedfellows: China's Middle Eastern Inroads”, World Affairs, vol. 175, no. 5.
Hornschild, Sebastian (2016, July), “China in the Middle East: not just about Oil”, European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS).
Kamel, Maha S. (2018), “China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Implications for the Middle East”, Cambridge Review of International Affairs.
Keohane, Robert O. (1984), After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy, Princeton: University Press Princeton.
Keohane, Robert O. and Joseph S. Nye (2012), “Power and Interdependence”, Fourth Edition, in Longman Classics in Political Science is an Imprint of Pearson.
Keohane, Robert O. and Helen V. Milner (1996), “Internationalization and Domestic Politics”, in Internationalization and Domestic Politics, Cambridge University Press.
Khawaja, Asma Shakir (2018), “China's Middle East Policy: Implications for Pakistan”, A Research Journal of South Asian Studies, vol. 33, no. 1.
Krasner, Stephen D. (1983), “Structural Causes and Regime Consequences: Regimes as Intervening Variables”, Krasner (ed.), International Regimes, Ithaca, NY and London: Cornell University Press.
Legrenzi, Matteo and Fred H. Lawson (2017), “The Changing Role of the Gulf in the International Political Economy”, Global Change, Peace & Security, vol. 29, no. 2.
Levy, Marc A., Oran R. Young, and Michael Zurn (1996), “The Study of International Regims”, the European Journal of International Relations, vol. 1, no. 3.
Lin, Christina (2017), “The Belt and Road and China’s Long-term Visions in the Middle East”, Institut für Strategie- Politik- Sicherheits- und Wirtschaftsberatung (ISPSW), no. 512.
M. Kamal, Amir (2015), The Political Economy of EU Ties with Iraq and Iran: An Assessment of the Trade–Peace Relationship, The Political Economy of the Middle East, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Miller, Raymond C. (2015), International Political Economy; Conflicting Worldviews, Translated by Mohammad Ali Shirkhani, Ahmad Fatemi Nejad, and Alireza Khosravi, Tehran: Samat (in Persian).
Mo Chen (2016), “The Economic Adjustment of Saudi Arabia and the Docking of Bilateral Economy and Trade between China and Saudi Arabia under the ‘One Belt and One Road’ Initiative”, Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies (in Asia), vol. 10, no. 2.
Namaki, M. S. S. el (2017), “Is China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) a Cace of Cross Country Dynamic Synergy?”, Scholedge International Journal of Management & Development.
NDRC (2015): The National Development and Reform Commission.
Olimat, Muhamad S. (2014), China and the Middle East Since World War II A Bilateral Approach, London: Lexington Books.
Peneluppi Jr., J. Renato et al. (2018), “China’s Initiative of One Belt One Road (OBOR) Provides a Platform for Sustainable Economic Development: Redeeming Old Silk Route for new Economic Era”, International Conference on Sustainability, Green Buildings, Environmental Engineering & Renewable Energy.
Rahmani, Timur (2006), Macroeconomics, Tehran: Baradaran, First Volume (in Persian).
Ruggie, John Gerard and Friedrich V. Kratochwil (1986), “International Organization: A State of the Art on the Art of the State”, International Organization, vol. 40, no. 4.
Saif Ur Rahman and Zhao Shurong (2017), “Analysis of Chinese Economic and National Security Interests in ChinaPakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) under the Framework of One Belt One Road (OBOR) Initiative”, Arts and Social Sciences Journal.
Scobell, Andrew and Alireza Nader (2016), “China in the Middle East: The Wary Dragon”, RAND Corporation.
Selmier II, W. Travis (2018), “The Belt and Road Initiative and the Influence of Islamic Economies”, Economi and Political Studies, vol. 6, no. 3.
Singh, Michael (2014, December), “Chinese Policy in the Middle East in the Wake of the Arab Uprisings”, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Smith, Roy, Emad Elanis, and Christopher Farandes (1393), International Political Economy in the 21st Century; Contemporary Topics and Analyzes, Translated by Haji Yousefi and Talebi, Tehran: Mokhatab (in Persian).
Snider, Erin A. (2017), “International Political Economy and the New Middle East, Politics Symposium”, American Political Science Association.
Ume, Farwa and Siddiqa Arhama (2017), “CPEC: Prospects of OBOR and South-South Cooperation”, The Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad.
WU Sike Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2015), “The Strategic Docking between China and Middle East Countries under the ‘Belt and Road’ Framework”, Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies (in Asia), vol. 9, no. 4.
Wuthnow, Joel (2017), “Chinese Perspectives on the Belt Road Initiative: Strategic Rationales, Risks, and Implications”, Center for the Study of Chinese Military Affairs Institute for National Strategic Studies China Strategic Perspectives, no. 12.
Xuewen, Qian (2016), “The New Silk Road in West Asia under ‘the Belt and Road’ Initiative”, Journal of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies (in Asia), vol. 10, no.1.
Xuming, Qian (2016), “The Belt and Road Initiatives and China’s Middle East Energy Policy”, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, China, International Relations and Diplomacy, vol. 4, no. 10.
Yizhi Jing, Jing Zhang (2017), “One Belt One Road: China's Nation-Building Initiative”, A.B. in Anthropology modified with Economics, June 2011, Dartmouth College, A Thesis submitted to The Faculty of the Elliott School of International Affairs of the George Washington University in  Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts, Thesis Directed by Sean Roberts Associate Professor of the Practice of International Affairs, Published by ProQuest LLC.
Zeng-Zhen Shao, Zu-Jun Ma, Jiuh-Biing Sheu, and H. Oliver Gao (2018), “Evaluation of Largescale Transnational High-Speed Railway Construction Priority in the Belt and Road Region”, Transportation Research Part E 117.
Žižek, Slavoj (2018), “Slavoj Žižek: Will Our Future be Chinese 'Capitalist Socialism'?” Published at:https://www.rt.com/op-ed/441873-china-socialism-capitalism-zizek/>
International Political Economy Studies
Volume 3, Issue 2
March 2020
Pages 331-355

Files

History

  • Receive Date: 05 February 2020
  • Revise Date: 12 October 2020
  • Accept Date: 07 December 2020

Share

How to cite

Statistics