TY - JOUR
T1 - The Belt and Road Initiative as a variegated agglomeration of multi-scalar state spatial strategies
AU - Linyu Qian Chen, Alexander
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - This study makes two contributions by ,first, developing ‘variegated agglomeration of multi-scalar state spatial strategies’ as a conceptual innovation for theorizing the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), based, second, on the methodological angles of multi-scalar analysis. Taking the Greater Mekong Subregion(GMS) and the China–Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor (CICPEC) as a case study, the article argues that the latter is the path-dependent outcome of the former as a result of the spatial layering of competing and complementary state spatial strategies, emerging from the inter-scalar dynamics between (1) the Asian Development Bank (ADB), (2) the Chinese central government, and (3) Yunnan and Guangxi qua provincial governments. The case study identifies two distinct periods of inter-scalar dynamics between 1992 and 2016, highlighting the shifting dynamics of horizontal and vertical scalar tensions emerging in response to different scale- and place-specific horizons of opportunities and challenges confronting differentially situated scalar actors. The conceptual innovation lays the groundwork for deepening our understanding of the BRI–and the context of the Chinese political economy from which it has emerged–through the analytical lens of multi-scalar analysis, opening up for the future possibility of examining the other constituent corridors.
AB - This study makes two contributions by ,first, developing ‘variegated agglomeration of multi-scalar state spatial strategies’ as a conceptual innovation for theorizing the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), based, second, on the methodological angles of multi-scalar analysis. Taking the Greater Mekong Subregion(GMS) and the China–Indochina Peninsula Economic Corridor (CICPEC) as a case study, the article argues that the latter is the path-dependent outcome of the former as a result of the spatial layering of competing and complementary state spatial strategies, emerging from the inter-scalar dynamics between (1) the Asian Development Bank (ADB), (2) the Chinese central government, and (3) Yunnan and Guangxi qua provincial governments. The case study identifies two distinct periods of inter-scalar dynamics between 1992 and 2016, highlighting the shifting dynamics of horizontal and vertical scalar tensions emerging in response to different scale- and place-specific horizons of opportunities and challenges confronting differentially situated scalar actors. The conceptual innovation lays the groundwork for deepening our understanding of the BRI–and the context of the Chinese political economy from which it has emerged–through the analytical lens of multi-scalar analysis, opening up for the future possibility of examining the other constituent corridors.
KW - scale
KW - territory
KW - regional development
KW - state space
KW - regional governance
KW - Political Economy
U2 - 10.1080/21622671.2020.1870544
DO - 10.1080/21622671.2020.1870544
M3 - Journal article
SN - 2162-2671
VL - 11
SP - 478
EP - 501
JO - Territory, Politics, Governance
JF - Territory, Politics, Governance
IS - 3
ER -