Globalizing China: Drivers and Consequences of Authoritarian Power Projection

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

China’s economic expansion beyond its borders has been accompanied by growing international tensions and anxieties, as firms and governments grapple with the geopolitical and domestic implications of this emerging "state capitalism". However, existing literature in international political economy falls short in some ways in explaining the domestic political economy of China’s outward economic power projection. What are the specific mechanisms that the Chinese state uses to align outward FDI with its own goals? What combination of commercial and strategic factors explain the patterns of China’s major global expansion in industries like shipping? How exactly does domestic decision-making work in the initiation, approval and implementation of China’s numerous Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects? And finally, how have these various external economic initiatives affected domestic public support for China’s authoritarian regime?

This panel makes original theoretical contributions to questions surrounding the domestic political economy of China’s expanding economic footprint, by harnessing new data and innovative research designs. Shi uses firm-level data of China’s state-owned and private enterprises to explain the mechanisms through which the CCP directs outward FDI, and the unexpected consequences of these strategies. Kardon and Leutert develop an original dataset of China’s overseas port operators to highlight the use of firm portfolios as a mechanism of power projection. Hale, Urpelainen and Liu use in-depth elite interviews to unpack the common agency and capacity problems which beset China’s implementation of the BRI. Finally, McDowell, Steinberg and Tan use a novel survey experiment design to test the impact of China’s outward economic initiatives on domestic regime support, focusing on three key Chinese initiatives: Renminbi internationalization, the BRI and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Together, these papers bring new insights into international and domestic political economy of China’s growing global role, adding to our understanding of contemporary geopolitical tensions.

Sub Unit

• Division 16: International Political Economy

Individual Presentations

• Delegate, Subsidize and Control: The Political Economy of China’s Outward FDI - Weiyi Shi, University of California, San Diego

• Power Projection and China’s Growing Global Portfolio - Isaac B. Kardon, US Naval War College; Wendy Leutert, Indiana University

• Domestic Bureaucratic Politics & Decision-making in the Belt and Road Initiative - Thomas N. Hale, Oxford University; Johannes Urpelainen, Columbia University; Chuyu Liu, Johns Hopkins SAIS

• Domestic Consequences of Global Expansion in Rising Powers: Evidence from China - Daniel McDowell, Syracuse University; David A. Steinberg, Johns Hopkins University; Yeling Tan, University of Oregon

Chair

• J. Lawrence Broz University of California, San Diego

Discussants

• Quan Li Texas A&M University

• Jeremy L. Wallace Cornell University