Periodic Reporting for period 2 - REDEFINE (Re-orienting development: the dynamics and effects of Chinese infrastructure investment in Europe)
Berichtszeitraum: 2022-05-01 bis 2023-10-31
REDEFINE will examine what China’s rise means for how we understand global development and, specifically, Europe’s place in it. China has over the past 15 years been ‘going out’ to source raw materials and access new markets, often in the global South. More recently, China has made assertive moves into more developed economies (Le Corre & Sepulchre 2016), which were boosted by the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) whereby massive investments in infrastructure – estimated to reach $1.3 trillion by 2027 – promise to link China to Europe. At the same time, many European economies stagnated following the 2008 financial crisis with governments cutting back on infrastructure investment and looking for new sources of finance. As such, China sees Europe as fertile ground for new investment: between 2015 and 2016 investment levels doubled (The Economist 2018). The first phase of China’s expansion, couched in terms of ‘South-South development cooperation’, has been analysed largely from the perspective of international Development Studies. It promised more equal relations between China and recipient countries, but the outcomes were uneven (Mohan & Tan-Mullins 2018). In the current phase, China is heading westwards, which radically re-orients the meanings and loci of development. The aim of REDEFINE is to use the insights from international development to interrogate Chinese engagement in the heart of Europe and by doing so re-orient the Eurocentric debates in the social sciences around how we define and delimit development, who drives these processes, and what it means for societies and communities affected by such investments.
REDEFINE’s agenda is important for two reasons. First, China’s presence in Europe presents opportunities and risks which we do not fully comprehend. As such REDEFINE will undertake fine-grained empirical analysis to understand the rationales for Chinese investment into Europe, the geopolitical dynamics surrounding these financing streams, the structuring of specific projects, and the ways in which these investments interface with national and local development policy. Second, as the Huawei case shows decision-makers are uncertain how to deal with a broadening range of public and private Chinese actors. By better understanding how investment deals operate, REDEFINE will connect Chinese and European governments and corporate actors in order to influence their strategies and practices.
To meet these aims REDEFINE’s objectives are: Conceptual Objectives: 1. Create a conceptual framework that unpacks the multiple drivers and actors on both the Chinese and European sides in order to analyse the organisation and outcomes of complex, multi-scalar investment flows; 2. Advance debates across disciplines regarding (a) China’s changing global role, (b) Europe’s changing economic and political strategies towards China, (c) different countries’ multi-scalar approaches to infrastructure financing, (d) the dynamics of internationally funded investment projects, and (e) more heterodox approaches to assessing project costs and benefits; 3. Contribute new theory on redefining global development; Instrumental Objectives: 4. Produce new, globally accessible data sets that capture broad trends and case-specific dynamics based on innovative quantitative and qualitative research methods, which are comparative across cases; 5. Share best practice of policy engagement regarding Chinese investments across European countries; 6. Facilitate better integration and co-ordination between public and private actors regarding major infrastructure projects; Capacity-building Objectives: 7. Enhance the capacities of doctoral students and early career researchers.
REDEFINE’s agenda is important for two reasons. First, China’s presence in Europe presents opportunities and risks which we do not fully comprehend. As such REDEFINE will undertake fine-grained empirical analysis to understand the rationales for Chinese investment into Europe, the geopolitical dynamics surrounding these financing streams, the structuring of specific projects, and the ways in which these investments interface with national and local development policy. Second, as the Huawei case shows decision-makers are uncertain how to deal with a broadening range of public and private Chinese actors. By better understanding how investment deals operate, REDEFINE will connect Chinese and European governments and corporate actors in order to influence their strategies and practices.
To meet these aims REDEFINE’s objectives are: Conceptual Objectives: 1. Create a conceptual framework that unpacks the multiple drivers and actors on both the Chinese and European sides in order to analyse the organisation and outcomes of complex, multi-scalar investment flows; 2. Advance debates across disciplines regarding (a) China’s changing global role, (b) Europe’s changing economic and political strategies towards China, (c) different countries’ multi-scalar approaches to infrastructure financing, (d) the dynamics of internationally funded investment projects, and (e) more heterodox approaches to assessing project costs and benefits; 3. Contribute new theory on redefining global development; Instrumental Objectives: 4. Produce new, globally accessible data sets that capture broad trends and case-specific dynamics based on innovative quantitative and qualitative research methods, which are comparative across cases; 5. Share best practice of policy engagement regarding Chinese investments across European countries; 6. Facilitate better integration and co-ordination between public and private actors regarding major infrastructure projects; Capacity-building Objectives: 7. Enhance the capacities of doctoral students and early career researchers.
The first 18 months of the REDEFINE project have been productive and the team has coalesced well and are now undertaking fieldwork. Platforms and protocols for disseminating our work are in place and we have recruited a supportive international advisory board. In meeting our objectives we have started to produce conceptual publications while we work on the data for more empirically-based outputs. Following a period of desk-based research the primary data collection has begun and is going well. In addition to recruiting and supervising our doctoral students we are organising a global seminar series for PhD students and early career researchers which we hope will generate a Summer School and doctoral training partnerships in the near future.
Dissemination: Key activities were setting up and populating the project website and developing a range of visual resources and publicity materials.
Covid impact: As is evident from the above the Covid pandemic has had multiple impacts on the project. Key among them were delays in travel which impacted upon recruitment and fieldwork, while general organisational procedures have slowed across organisations with incremental knock-on effects.
In terms of developing conceptual innovations the reading groups and team workshops have been the forums where we have been discussing ideas. These discussions have coalesced into more formal papers, which are being developed for REDEFINE working papers and for onward submission to peer-reviewed journals.
We are also keen to become thought leaders for both academic and non-academic audiences. To this end we have started a blog series which addresses cutting-edge issues around China-Europe relations and acts as a showcase for REDEFINE’s conceptual thinking.
In terms of preparing for data collection, we spent the first year developing our conceptual frameworks (as above) and research design. In terms of desk-based research we undertook ‘mappings’ of our case study which involved reviewing publicly available information against a set of agreed themes that we have devised. This mapping helped identify gaps in our knowledge, key actors, and emerging issues which are now pursuing in our primary data collection. On the basis of these mappings we have adjusted some case studies and new ones are being scoped. The main change was in Germany where the Meerwind case was simply an equity sale and we cannot discern any real Chinese involvement beyond Chinese financing so this has been replaced by Duisburg Port where a Chinese firm is building a new terminal and the wider city has a lot of Chinese businesses. We are also scoping additional cases which we will pursue in less detail as a way of capturing the changing patterns of Chinese investment, which is shifting from large infrastructure to more niche hi-tech, R&D and educational investment.
We are also producing Political Economy Analysis (PEA) of our 4 case study countries so we can see how the individual cases are shaped by wider institutional, political and economic relations. These PEAs are focusing on aspects relevant to infrastructure provision.
Dissemination: Key activities were setting up and populating the project website and developing a range of visual resources and publicity materials.
Covid impact: As is evident from the above the Covid pandemic has had multiple impacts on the project. Key among them were delays in travel which impacted upon recruitment and fieldwork, while general organisational procedures have slowed across organisations with incremental knock-on effects.
In terms of developing conceptual innovations the reading groups and team workshops have been the forums where we have been discussing ideas. These discussions have coalesced into more formal papers, which are being developed for REDEFINE working papers and for onward submission to peer-reviewed journals.
We are also keen to become thought leaders for both academic and non-academic audiences. To this end we have started a blog series which addresses cutting-edge issues around China-Europe relations and acts as a showcase for REDEFINE’s conceptual thinking.
In terms of preparing for data collection, we spent the first year developing our conceptual frameworks (as above) and research design. In terms of desk-based research we undertook ‘mappings’ of our case study which involved reviewing publicly available information against a set of agreed themes that we have devised. This mapping helped identify gaps in our knowledge, key actors, and emerging issues which are now pursuing in our primary data collection. On the basis of these mappings we have adjusted some case studies and new ones are being scoped. The main change was in Germany where the Meerwind case was simply an equity sale and we cannot discern any real Chinese involvement beyond Chinese financing so this has been replaced by Duisburg Port where a Chinese firm is building a new terminal and the wider city has a lot of Chinese businesses. We are also scoping additional cases which we will pursue in less detail as a way of capturing the changing patterns of Chinese investment, which is shifting from large infrastructure to more niche hi-tech, R&D and educational investment.
We are also producing Political Economy Analysis (PEA) of our 4 case study countries so we can see how the individual cases are shaped by wider institutional, political and economic relations. These PEAs are focusing on aspects relevant to infrastructure provision.
The seminar series: A seminar series with York and CHERN is all about showcasing the up-and-coming generation of researchers which is exciting and beyond our original plans.
We are also using our convening power strategically to place REDEFINE at the heart of doctoral research in the China-Europe field and plan to submit a DTP bid in the next year or so to cement this position.
Teaching materials: Various REDEFINE team members have worked with the PI to write online teaching materials, in all cases we are using REDEFINE debates as the case studies, thereby amplifying awareness of our work.
We are also using our convening power strategically to place REDEFINE at the heart of doctoral research in the China-Europe field and plan to submit a DTP bid in the next year or so to cement this position.
Teaching materials: Various REDEFINE team members have worked with the PI to write online teaching materials, in all cases we are using REDEFINE debates as the case studies, thereby amplifying awareness of our work.