The Making of Eurasia investigates the multi-layered spectrum of China and Russia's Eurasian policies towards each other, ranging from competition to cooperation, as well as the role of regional actors in between. The book examines the impact of and responses to the dynamic Sino-Russian interaction in the wake of China's Belt and Road initiative, focusing on the selected case studies of Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Uzbekistan, but also on inter-regional implications across the Eurasian space. With China's imprint on inter-regional politics and ambition to make a distinctive Chinese contribution to 'globalization' and Russia's vision of a 'Greater Eurasia' in which Moscow stakes out a place for itself as an indispensable power, other regional actors adopt policies that respond to and co-shape the resulting centrifugal forces. Meanwhile, power shifts are underway on a global plane, as the normative divide between Russia and the West has widened, and as the Sino-American rivalry is intensifying. The book therefore also sheds light on the effects of Eurasian power shifts on global governance in a context where global 'leadership' is contested, and in which the US and Europe are re-defining their relationship not only towards a self-confident China but also towards each other. As such, this study will provide valuable insight for students and scholars of Eurasian Asia Studies, Foreign Policy Analysis, and International Relations at large.

This book analyzes the Chinese-centered globalization ‘from below’ brought about by China’s entrepreneurial migrants and conceived of as a projection of Chinese power in the Belt and Road Initiative partner states. It identifies the features of this globalization ‘from below,’ scrutinizes its mutually reinforcing relationship with China’s globalization ‘from above,’ and shows that these two globalizations are intrinsically related to the construction of a new international order. It outlines how the actors in China’s globalization ‘from below’ include Chinese emigrants who are located in informal transnational economic networks. It reveals that Beijing has enacted many laws that compel these emigrants to contribute to the development of their country of origin but also influences them through the successful promotion of a specific type of deterritorialized nationalism; and that China is ready to impose harsh punitive actions on political elites in partner states which fail to protect its migrants or limit their economic activities. Finally, it argues that China’s globalization ‘from below’ is fundamentally different from the non-hegemonic globalization ‘from below’ represented by, among others, Lebanese and East Indian traders, and that China’s globalization ‘from below’ is rather a self-interested national strategy intended to support the construction of a Chinese-centered international order.

This book argues that China’s international socialization of the political elites of Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) partner states is an exceptionally effective instrument of China’s current foreign policy. It shows how the BRI-related process of socialization generates shared beliefs in the legitimacy and therefore in the acceptability of a Chinese international order among target elites and how in turn the policies and actions of states controlled by these elites tend to become aligned with the norms ‘taught’ by the Chinese socializer. It goes on to show how this serves the interests of China’s government, firms, and citizens at national, regional, and global levels; and how the resulting increased support for Beijing’s version of the international order creates a virtuous circle that further enhances China’s international position and potential.

China and Europe both decisively shape twenty-first century global politics. Successful cooperation between Europe and China continues, notably in climate change mitigation, or finding a way out of the financial crisis. Relations are also increasingly institutionalised, such as through Summits or High-Level Dialogues. However, although in 2013 the EU and China have celebrated the 10-year-anniversary of their Strategic Partnership, struggles have re-emerged, in relation to human rights, intervention in crisis regions such as Syria, and trade subsidisation and protectionism in areas such as the solar energy industry. Given this simultaneous presence of partnership and competition, this edited volume investigates if Sino-European relations have become what Henry Kissinger has termed a “co-evolution”: both China and Europe “pursue their domestic imperatives, cooperating where possible, and adjust their relations to minimize conflict”. The volume sheds light on four key areas of Europe-China relations: first, high politics and security relations; second, the European sovereign debt crisis; third, energy and environmental issues; and fourth, soft power and public diplomacy. As the volume is authored by Chinese and European early-stage scholars in equal numbers, it adds a balance of perspectives and a future-oriented outlook to the still-low but increasing number of works on Europe/EU-China relations.

This book explores the relationship between collecting Chinese ceramics, interior design and display in Britain through the eyes of collectors, designers and tastemakers during the years leading to, during and following the Second World War. The Ionides Collection of European style Chinese export porcelain forms the nucleus of this study – defined by its design hybridity – offering insights into the agency of Chinese porcelain in diverse contexts, from seventeenth-century Batavia to twentieth-century Britain, raising questions about notions of Chineseness, Britishness, and identity politics across time and space. Through the biographies of the collectors, this book highlights the role of collecting Chinese art objects, particularly porcelain, in the construction of individual and group identities. Social networks linking the Ionides to agents and dealers, auctioneers, and museum specialists bring into focus the dynamics of collecting during this period, the taste of the Ionides and their self-fashioning as collectors. The book will be of interest to scholars working in the fields of art history, history of collections, interior design, Chinese studies, and material culture studies.

As the United States slowly disengages from the Middle East and Europe faces internal challenges, a new actor is quietly exerting greater influence across North Africa: China. Beijing's growing footprint in North Africa encompasses, but is not limited to, trade, infrastructure development, ports, shipping, financial cooperation, tourism and manufacturing. It is continuing to expand its co-operation with North African countries, not only in the economic and cultural spheres, but also those of diplomacy and defence. This engagement with North Africa relates to the key aim of President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which wants to connect Asia, Africa and Europe and sees potential in North Africa's strategic geographic location. This book is the first to analyse China's role in North Africa. It comprises of five leading country experts - Anouar Boukhars, Yahia Zoubir, Sarah Yerkes, Tareki Magresi and Nael Shama – who examine the various socio-economic, political and security aspects of China's relationship with Algeria, Morocco, Libya, Tunisia and Egypt. The book explores how China is displaying a development model that seeks to combine authoritarianism with economic growth, a model and that has an eager audience among regimes across the MENA region. It reveals how the China-North Africa relationship fits within the broader dynamics of increasing China-US rivalry. In doing so, contributors explain why China's growing role in North Africa is likely to have far-reaching economic and geopolitical consequences for both countries in the region and around the world.

Why the future of great power politics is likely to resemble its dismal past Can great powers be confident that their peers have benign intentions? States that trust each other can live at peace; those that mistrust each other are doomed to compete for arms and allies and may even go to war. Sebastian Rosato explains that states routinely lack the kind of information they need to be convinced that their rivals mean them no harm. Even in cases that supposedly involved mutual trust—Germany and Russia in the Bismarck era; Britain and the United States during the great rapprochement; France and Germany, and Japan and the United States in the early interwar period; and the Soviet Union and United States at the end of the Cold War—the protagonists mistrusted each other and struggled for advantage. Rosato argues that the ramifications of his argument for U.S.–China relations are profound: the future of great power politics is likely to resemble its dismal past.

To avoid a repeat of those nationalist nightmares, a common European Dream emerged after WWII, which has since developed into some essential doctrines of European integration. This dream-inspired institutionalist context has framed intergovernmental bargaining, sectoral spillovers and transnational cooperation in European integration. The powerful European Dream has even encouraged Europeans toward closer integration, though they were, quite often, very reluctant to go further. This dream-driven approach and reluctant runner’s model have highlighted some fundamental realities of European integration, extremely inspiring for the future of the EU and the ongoing Asian regionalism. This book consists of three parts and thirteen chapters. It aims to explain European integration, the EU’s role in global governance and the EU’s impact upon Asian regionalism with the help of the European Dream approach and reluctant runners’ model. Trump’s unilateralism, the rising tensions between the US and PRC and the COVID-19 pandemic may be a turning point for world politics. Both globalization and global governance have consequently slowed down, giving place to regionalism and inter-regionalism. This book hopes to contribute to the rising debate over European integration, Asian regionalism and EU-Asian inter-regionalism.

This new edition of the well established European Political Facts provides a wide-ranging and comprehensive work of reference on Europe in the twentieth century. There are sections on heads of state and ministers, elections, political parties, constitutions, wars and treaties, among many others. The end result provides an invaluable compendium for students, academics, journalists and researchers. Recent events, from developments in the European Union to conflicts in the Balkans, receive full attention. This latest edition of a pioneering reference work first published twenty-five years ago is an indispensable acquisition for all those studying twentieth-century Europe.

This book shows the ways in which English, French, and German eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century encyclopaedias dealt with things Chinese, offering an analysis of the broad variety of sources and an overview of the main strands of discourse on China.