Financing the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI): research agendas beyond the “debt-trap” discourse

@article{Lai2020FinancingTB,
  title={Financing the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI): research agendas beyond the “debt-trap” discourse},
  author={Karen P. Y. Lai and Shaun Lin and James D. Sidaway},
  journal={Eurasian Geography and Economics},
  year={2020},
  volume={61},
  pages={109 - 124}
}
ABSTRACT By way of introduction to the four papers that follow, we chart some key parameters of debate about finance and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In particular, we argue that the rise of discourses about “predatory lending” and “debt trap” (that feature in much commentary and reportage about BRI) merits critique and contextualization. The financing needs of BRI also raise important implications for the geography of financial markets and business services in Asia and other key… Expand
View on Taylor & Francis
dro.dur.ac.uk
17 Citations
Background Citations
5

17 Citations

Citation Type

Citation Type

China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Views from the ground
TLDR
This special issue examines the BRI as a relational, contested process - a bundle of intertwined discourses, policies, and projects that sometimes align but are sometimes contradictory, and moves beyond policy-level, macro-economic, and classic geopolitical analysis to study China's global investments “from the ground”. Expand
Banking ‘development’: the geopolitical–economy of infrastructure financing
ABSTRACT In the post-2008 global economy, infrastructure development and financing have risen to the top of the development agenda, emerging as a contested field for global investments involving… Expand
Sovereign Debt in the Making: Financial Entanglements and Labor Politics along the Belt and Road in Laos
abstract This article examines the contingent and contentious processes through which debt is created to finance major infrastructure projects. I contend that practices aimed at structuring credit… Expand
China’s belt and road initiative: The need for livelihood-inclusive stories
Abstract The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is one of the most ambitious global investment ventures in modern times, with the stated ambition to generate inclusive development processes through… Expand
Theorizing Belt and Road construction mode from institutional and cultural perspectives
There is a gap between the great vision and high-quality targets of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Western recognition of them, which challenges Chinese and Western scholars. This gap should… Expand
Sinews of politics: State Grid Corporation, investment coalitions, and embeddedness in the Philippines
Abstract China's overseas energy projects have expanded significantly in the last decade . While there is considerable literature on C energy-related construction contracts and ownership of power… Expand
The dragon dithers: assessing the cautious implementation of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Iran
ABSTRACT In the Belt and Road era, one would expect an increase in the amount of Chinese economic engagement with Iran due to its strategic position on the Persian Gulf and its rich oil reserves. Yet… Expand
China’s Belt and Road Initiative as Nascent World Order Structure and Concept? Between Sino-Centering and Sino-Deflecting
ABSTRACT This article considers Chinese state-sanctioned representations of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as the conceptual apparatus of a Chinese state project with world order significance.… Expand
Money and Borders
Money and finance are often thought of as forming a uniform, frictionless global space. While events in the last decades have certainly shown how monetary and financial practices and events have… Expand
Geographies of infrastructure III: Infrastructure with Chinese characteristics
For 25 years, China has staked its development on domestic and global infrastructure expansion. This third progress report on geographies of infrastructure explores what China’s far-reaching… Expand
...
1
2
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 86 REFERENCES
Structural power and the financing of the Belt and Road Initiative
ABSTRACT The question of financing the Belt and Road Initiative sharpens the broader debates about the intentions behind and implications of the initiative, in particular, whether it represents an… Expand
Examining the debt implications of the Belt and Road Initiative from a policy perspective
China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) hopes to deliver trillions of dollars in infrastructure financing to Asia, Europe, and Africa. If the initiative follows Chinese practices to date for… Expand
Financing the Belt and Road Initiative
ABSTRACT The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has attracted the involvement of increasing numbers of countries in the world, but also caused a lot of concerns about its financing given its sheer size.… Expand
“They will not automatically benefit”: The politics of infrastructure development in Laos's Northern Economic Corridor
Abstract At a time when the shortcomings of neoliberal development are well known, China's Belt and Road Initiative offers both an opportunity and a requirement to revisit the question of a more… Expand
Framing the Asian infrastructure investment bank: a qualitative analysis of the political debate and media coverage on a China-led multilateral institution
Abstract This qualitative study is designed to identify the frames in the debate on the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and analyze the framing by different actors. To that end, it drew… Expand
The Asian debt-and-development crisis of 1997-?: Causes and consequences
Abstract Interpretations of the Asian crisis have coalesced around two rival stories: the “death throes of Asian state capitalism” story about internal, real economy causes; and the “panic triggering… Expand
Business Services and the Financing of Global Production Networks: The Case of Global Law Firms in Southeast Asia
Financial and business services (FABS) as intermediaries play a significant role in global production networks (GPNs). Yet the mechanisms through which they influence the activities of lead and… Expand
World cities under conditions of financialized globalization
This paper interrogates the enduring yet changing role of world cities as centers of capitalist ‘command and control’ amidst deepening uneven development. By incorporating financialization processes… Expand
Where governance fails
The paper revisits the literatures on financial geographies, advanced business services, world cities and offshore financial centres. Linking these bodies of research, the paper argues that the… Expand
The Belt & Road Initiative and China’s influence in Southeast Asia
Abstract The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), since its inception in late 2013, has drawn tremendous global attention. The views of political leaders, business people, the media, and analysts on the… Expand
...
1
2
3
4
5
...