China’s capitalist industrial development and the emergence of the Belt and Road Initiative

In this study, we introduce our conceptual framework to study the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The objective is to bring together a series of interrelated theoretical concepts to study the totality of the BRI. The objective is to find answers to the following two questions: (i) Why did the Chinese leadership set up the BRI? (ii) What are the impacts of the BRI on participating countries and regions, and on the global political economy and its governance?

Scholarly literature on the BRI is growing fast and uses mainly either “realist” or “liberal” frameworks. Describing and conceptualizing the BRI project requires a conceptual foundation that supersedes the traditional divide between political power, society, and markets. The conceptual tools of this article aim to relate the national, regional, and system-level global political economy. State, society, and market actors are decision makers, while the system level refers to structures and outcomes. The national-level policies are inputs into the global system and transform the structural features of the system. We, therefore, speak of ”state, society, and market complexes”, “state-led capitalist industrial development” and its challenges, and “geopolitical economy” to better understand the logic and forces behind the creation of BRI and its impact on the member countries and regions as well as global politics.