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| Semester | fall semester 2019 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers |
Kenny R. Cupers (kenny.cupers@unibas.ch)
Remo Reginold (remo.reginold@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | China is playing an increasingly central role in shaping the new global order. The Belt-and-Road Initiative (BRI) launched in 2013 is one of China’s most ambitious projects. It is a large-scale infrastructure project to connect Asia with Africa and Europe via land and sea. The BRI, also known as the New Silk Road, is the signature foreign policy project of China’s president Xi Jinping and supports the "Great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.” Infrastructure, tied to money policies, technological development, as well as value-based politics, trade and investment schemes, is thus a paramount tool of global geopolitics. This seminar analyses the geostrategic aims and hidden agendas of the BRI, with special emphasis on the African continent. Via selected case studies, we try to understand how the Chinese way of doing international relations impacts existing infrastructural schemes, urban development, and everyday lifeworlds. Initially promoted as win-win cooperation, the BRI received criticism in recent times. Westerners tend to describe it as new colonial project, a form of debt-trap-diplomacy comparable to carrot-and-stick politics. Based on the selected case studies, the seminar’s mission is to explore China’s South-South cooperation and how it alters the understanding of rule-based politics and Western development schemes in urban settings. In opposition to IMF, WTO and liberal market principles, China emphasizes investment and development in weak regions, thereby neglecting treaties, principles of international law and human rights. This new geopolitical reality will impact societies in the global South at large and challenge their resilience. |
| Learning objectives | The students will be acquainted with (I) the central premises of geopolitics and international relations and their relationship with urban development and infrastructure (II) analyze how China’s engagement in world politics alters the logic of Western investment and development schemes and (III) challenge the so-called North-South dependency theories. In addition, the students will learn to (IV) apply historical, economic and geopolitical reasoning to urban case studies and (V) reason on how infrastructure-based economies are exposing themselves to international challenges. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|
No dates available. Please contact the lecturer.
| Modules |
Modul: Erweiterung Gesellschaftswissenschaften B.A. (Bachelor's degree subject: Political Science) Modul: Erweiterung Gesellschaftswissenschaften M.A. (Master's degree subject: Political Science) Modul: Europäisierung und Globalisierung (Master's Studies: European Global Studies) Modul: Fachkompetenz Globaler Wandel (Master's degree subject: Geography) Modul: Fields: Environment and Development (Master's degree program: African Studies) Modul: Fields: Governance and Politics (Master's degree program: African Studies) Modul: Theory and General Anthropology (Master's degree subject: Anthropology) Modul: Transfer: Europa interdisziplinär (Master's degree program: European History in Global Perspective) Module: Projects and Processes of Urbanization (Master's degree program: Critical Urbanisms) Vertiefungsmodul Global Europe: Regional Integration and Global Flows (Master's Studies: European Global Studies) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Urban Studies |