2023 09 05 IIPPE WS S3: China-Middle East Relations by Salam Alshareef

Описание: China-Middle East Relations: A Site for the Transformation of (Neo)Liberal International Order by Salam Alshareef

The presentation explores the political and economic catalysts behind the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), using China-Middle East relations as a focal point. In a stark difference with privately-owned outflows of finance-capital from core’s countries, the BRI is a state-owned and/or directed capital flows. While the BRI seeks to fix a crisis of capital overaccumulation through valorization in external geographies, the party-state nexus’s political priorities are clearly embedded in BRI economic activities, responding to a blend of (geo)economic and (geo)political imperatives. Studied activities in the Middle East bolster China’s energy security in terms of direct access to oil, trade routes, and refined oil invoicing practices. These activities strategically integrate the underdeveloped mainland regions in BRI’s transnational capital flows in an attempt to invigorate their economies and tackle the problem of uneven capitalist development. Furthermore, BRI’s endeavor are calibrated to foil pressure from the USA, as they create alternative, less vulnerable, and less dependent connectivity network to the world economy than the current US-dominated one (financial, monetary, and transportation). For instance, China-Middle east economic relations are a central site for the transformation of international (neo)liberal order, especially on the monetary front. Finally, the relatively win-win partnerships and connectivity infrastructure that create bonds and links, can help Beijing to counter US balance-of-power strategy, as they create incentives to partners to take distance from US attempts to enlist them as proxies in efforts to contain China. This is amply reflected in the middle east where the level of participation of historically central regional allies of the USA, in the BRI reflects the ongoing historical transformation of balance of power and the shift in the global political dynamics.

Recommended reading: Alshareef, S. 2023. A contender state's multiscalar mediation of transnational capital: the belt and road in the Middle East, New Political Economy

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/...

Speaker: Salam Alshareef, Assistant Professor in People, Organizations and Society Doctorate, Grenoble Ecole de Management

Discussants: Michael Roberts, Independent researcher, Marxist economist and author of several books including Capitalism in the 21st Century Through the Prism of Value, The Great Recession, The Long Depression and Marx 200.

Alan Freeman, Principal economist with the Greater London Authority from 2000 to 2011, Co-Director with Radhika Desai of the Geopolitical Economy Research Group

Conclusion of Workshop by Dic Lo