Buying Influence? Assessing the Political Effects of China’s International Trade

Kastner, Scott L.

doi:10.1177/0022002714560345

Cited by 74 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 26 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In the first case, despite the generally accepted mercantilist argument (Heaton, 1937; Landreth & Colander, 2002), we found that the share of imports from China plays a greater role than exports to China in terms of foreign policy accommodation. This result is consistent with other recent findings (Kastner, 2014; Strüver, 2016), which reflects that the mercantilist view of trade is fundamentally outdated in the framework of a globalized economy. Exports have by now become inseparable from imports, since the majority of exports from one country to another often involve a complex cooperation of domestic and foreign suppliers via value chains.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 93%

The Belt and Road Initiative and the Development of China’s Economic Statecraft: European Attitudes and Responses

Grimmel

Eszterhai

2020

International Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article examines how states may be inclined to adapt to the policy goals of powerful economic partner states in acts of ‘anticipatory conformity’ or by adjusting their ‘common’ policy goals. It builds on two classical theoretical bases—the concept of economic statecraft and Hirschmanesque effects—to explore how economic power may be translated into far-reaching effects on other states’ behaviour without a clear goal or objective being proclaimed or even set by the economically powerful state. Our empirical findings suggest that the European Union still has an unparalleled influence on member states, and China’s growing economic presence in Europe alone—especially in the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative—is insufficient to influence member states’ politics.

show abstract

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 93%

The Belt and Road Initiative and the Development of China’s Economic Statecraft: European Attitudes and Responses

Grimmel

Eszterhai

2020

International Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Geo-economic competition and the weaponization of interdependence are already attracting growing interest from the academic and policy scholars (Blackwill and Harris, 2016;Farrell and Newman, 2019;Wright, 2017). It is difficult to ignore the similarities between Germany's economic penetration of the Ottoman Empire through sovereign debt, arms deals, and infrastructure projects such as the Berlin-Baghdad Railroad; its cooptation of Ottoman civilian and military elites; and its subsequent control over Ottoman policy and the current policies and actions of China (Dreher et al, 2018(Dreher et al, , 2019Flores-Macias and Kreps, 2013;Kastner, 2016;Norris, 2016;Strüver, 2016;Tuman and Shirali, 2017), as well as Russia (e.g. Sherr, 2013).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bad influence: social networks, elite brokerage, and the construction of alliances

Sazak

2020

European Journal of International Relations

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

If all states want to survive, why do some of them enter unpropitious alliances? International Relations (IR) theory’s conventional answer is that imperfect information and systemic complexity result in miscalculation. This explanation begs the question: any alliance that fails is a miscalculated one, so the puzzle is not whether but why such mistakes are made. This article imports from recent scholarship on network theory and interpersonal trust to offer an alternative explanation. Alliances are not entities ethereally formed out of strategic imperatives, but products of interactions within transnational social networks of political, military, and business elites in the prospective allies. Such interactions enable alliances because people who are connected to each other through mutual association or previous exchanges develop mutual trust and gain subjective certainty about each other’s intentions and capabilities, which points at a previously ignored mechanism in alliance behavior: brokerage. In a case study that combines theory-based archival research and social network analysis, this article uses historical evidence on the Turco-German alliance to empirically demonstrate the brokerage role Colmar von der Goltz, the head of the German military mission to the Ottoman Empire, played in the two countries’ relations at the turn of the century and their eventual alliance in the First World War. The analysis points at a potential means of bridging IR, history, and sociology while expanding our understanding of alliance behavior and providing policy-relevant insights on geo-economic competition and the weaponization of interdependence at a time of growing strategic rivalry on the world stage.

show abstract

“…The PENS literature, though, has long called into question the thesis that there is a one-to-one correspondence between economic stimuli and political behavior [12,17,75]. After all, economic relations often entail both positive and negative economic stimuli.…”

Section: The Translation Issuementioning

confidence: 99%

Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Blues: Powering BRI Research Back on Track to Avoid Choppy Seas

Blanchard

2021

J OF CHIN POLIT SCI

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This piece examines and critiques the massive literature on China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It details how research currently seems stuck on the road to nowhere. In addition, it identifies a number of the potholes that collective research endeavors are hitting such as that they are poorly synchronized. It also stresses that lines of analysis are proliferating rather than optimizing, with studies broadening in thematic coverage, rather than becoming deeper. It points out that BRI participants are regularly related to the role of a bit player in many analyses and research often is disconnected from other literatures. Among other things, this article recommends analysts focus on the Maritime Silk Road Initiative (MSRI) or Silk Road Economic Belt (SREB) in specific regions or countries. It also argues for a research core that focuses on the implementation issue (i.e., the issue of MSRI and SREB project implementation), project effects (i.e., the economic and political costs and benefits of projects), and the translation issue (i.e., the domestic and foreign policy effects of projects) and does work that goes beyond the usual suspects. On a related note, research need to identify, more precisely, participants and projects, undertake causal analysis, and take into account countervailing factors. Furthermore, studies need to make more extensive use of the Chinese foreign policy literature. Moreover, works examining subjects like soft power need to improve variable conceptualization and operationalization and deliver more nuanced analyses. Finally, studies, especially by area specialists, should take the area, not the China, perspective.

show abstract

Buying Influence? Assessing the Political Effects of China’s International Trade

Cited by 74 publications

References 26 publications

The Belt and Road Initiative and the Development of China’s Economic Statecraft: European Attitudes and Responses

The Belt and Road Initiative and the Development of China’s Economic Statecraft: European Attitudes and Responses

Bad influence: social networks, elite brokerage, and the construction of alliances

Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Blues: Powering BRI Research Back on Track to Avoid Choppy Seas

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About