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CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20240205T152600Z
DTSTART:20240314T163000Z
DTEND:20240314T180000Z
SUMMARY:Re-orienting Global Development: The multiscalar dynamics of de-r
 isking Chinese infrastructure investment in Europe
UID:{http://www.columbasystems.com/customers/uom/gpp/eventid/}c2ov-lrufpn
 wl-850vje
DESCRIPTION:China’s Belt and Road Initiative is the most visible manifest
 ation of the country’s wider internationalisation efforts in which infra
 structure connectivity projects are central. Existing spatialised narrat
 ives of these projects have usefully focused on long-standing geopolitic
 al binaries and bilateral state relations\, as well as newer spatial ont
 ologies of corridors\, zones and networks. Yet they tend to underplay in
 tra-state relations in the countries receiving Chinese infrastructure in
 vestment and so this lecture examines these dynamics through three case 
 studies of Chinese-backed transport projects in Germany\, Italy and Hung
 ary. I argue that the promise of these infrastructure projects was virtu
 ous insertion into global production networks\, but in practice we see t
 he central state over-riding local political actors. In Germany and Ital
 y this is in the name of ‘de-risking’ Chinese investments whereby the re
 -territorialisation of state power is a response to a perceived ‘China t
 hreat’ but also a form of protectionism in the face of Chinese competiti
 on. In Hungary\, the centralised regime uses major infrastructure for le
 gitimatory purposes and deploys the growing connectivity to China as an 
 Eastwards balance to its strained relations with Western Europe. I use t
 his analysis to reflect on whether calls for Global Development are help
 ful for analysing new interdependencies beyond the global South.
STATUS:TENTATIVE
TRANSP:TRANSPARENT
CLASS:PUBLIC
LOCATION:G33 \, Humanities Bridgeford Street\, Manchester
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