Reconciling Different Approaches to Conceptualizing the Glocalization of the Belt and Road Initiative Projects

Did you miss this webinar? The full recording is available on ISDP’s YouTube channel.

In response to a rising number of academic papers that empirically examine local variances in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects in various foreign lands, Dr. Julie Chen’s presentation will pinpoint the difficulties that attempting to theorize BRI projects brings with them.

The Sino-localized approach and the assemblage theory were the two main attempts used by scholars from disparate academic disciplines to conceptualize local agency and to understand how local conditionalities, practices, and norms may affect the outcome of BRI projects. Nonetheless, Dr. Chen’s key argument is that it is vital to examine both differences and similarities of current BRI projects to  determine whether the local conditions and Beijing’s aims are, in fact, irreconcilable.

We are honored to welcome Dr. Julie Yu-Wen Chen who is Professor of Chinese Studies at the University of Helsinki in Finland. Chen is the academic liaison for the University of Helsinki at the Nordic NIAS Council based in Denmark as well as the Nordic Center at Fudan University, China. She is currently representing Finland in “COST ACTION: China in Europe Research Network” (European Cooperation in Science & Technology funded by EU Horizon 2020 EU). Chen formerly held academic positions at Nazarbayev University (Kazakhstan), University College Cork (Ireland) and Academia Sinica (Taiwan).

Prof. Torbjörn Lodén, Head of the Stockholm China Center at the Institute for Security and Development Policy, will moderate the event.