Prof Chris Alden 9th Floor IDEAS, PAN

This course is available on the MSc in China in Comparative Perspective, MSc in International Relations, MSc in International Relations (LSE and Sciences Po) and MSc in International Relations (Research). This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

This course has a limited number of places (it is controlled access). In previous years we have been able to provide places for most students that apply but that may not continue to be the case.

This course focuses on the substantive role that China plays in the Global South where its preponderance of material power and putative developing country status confers upon it a dominant position in bilateral and regional political economies.  China's economic position, coupled to an astute use of finances flowing from its mercantilist policies, has enabled it to become the leading trading partner and a significant investor in the developing world.  Moreover, the Global South is increasingly figuring in Beijing's expanding security interests and soft power provisions.  Interpretations embedded in prevailing academic discussions like socialisation, threat and peaceful rise take on new meaning when studied through the lens of ties with developing countries.  Understanding how dynamics in this relationship are impacting upon a host of global and contemporary issues (BRICs, multilateralism, peacekeeping, the environment) is crucial to the shape of the 21st century.  Students will acquire a deeper appreciation of the concept of agency linked to the varied response of countries and regional organisations in the Global South, from policy elites to local communities, to China's growing structural power, as well as placing Chinese engagement within the context of other 'traditional' and emerging powers.  This will offer a deeper analysis of the way in which the dynamics of China's economic and political model impact on its relationship with the Global South.

10 hours of lectures and 15 hours of seminars in the AT.

Students will submit a 2,000-word essay based on Week 1-3 materials. The essay question will include audio and/or video materials students will be asked to comment and incorporate in their essays as part of their work.

• Ariel Ahram, 'Theory and Method of Qualitative Area Studies', Qualitative Research (11:1 2011), pp. 69-90
• Chris Alden and Chris R Hughes, 'Harmony, Discord and Learning in China's Foreign Policy, China Quarterly, Special Issue (No.9 December 2009), pp.13-34
• Chris Alden, 'China and Africa - The Relationship Matures', Strategic Analysis (36:5 2012), pp.701-707
• Chris Alden and Lu Jiang. (2019). Brave new world: debt, industrialization and security in China–Africa relations. International Affairs, 95(3), 641-657. doi:https://doi.org/10.1093/ia/iiz083
• Gaston Fornes & Alvaro Mendez. (2018). The China-Latin America Axis: Emerging Markets and their Role in an Increasingly Globalised World (2 ed.). New York: Palgrave Macmillan
• Van Staden, Cobus, Alden, Chris, & Wu, Yu-Shan. (2020). Outlining African Agency Against the Background of the Belt and Road Initiative. African Studies Quarterly, 19(3-4), 115-134.
• Arthur R Kroeber, China's Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know (OUP: 2016)
• Alvaro Mendez & Chris Alden. (2021). China in Panama: From Peripheral Diplomacy to Grand Strategy. Geopolitics, 26(3), 838-860. doi:10.1080/14650045.2019.1657413
• Alvaro Mendez. (2019). Latin America and the AIIB: Interests and Viewpoints. Global Policy, 10(4), 639-644. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.12733
• Barry Naughton, 'China's Distinctive System: Can it be a Model for Others?' Journal of Contemporary China (19:65: 2010), pp.437-460
• Michael Pettis, Avoiding the Fall: China's Economic Restructuring (Washington DC: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: 2013)
• David Shambaugh (Ed.) (2016). The China Reader: Rising Power (6 ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press
• Ian Taylor, Africa Rising? BRICs and Diversifiying Dependency (James Currey: 2014)

Essay (75%, 3500 words) in the WT.
Presentation (25%) in the AT.

(75%) The essay question will include audio and/or video materials students will be asked to comment and incorporate in their essays as part of their work.

(25%) 10-minute pre-recorded video presentation to upload on Moodle 48 hours before the pre-assigned seminar together with a 400-word annotated bibliography.