Gostujoče predavanje dr. Igor Rogelje

Vabljeni na predavanje dr. Igorja Rogelje z University College London: »Belt and Road Initiative: The First Decade«. Predavanje bo v ponedeljek, 15. maja 2023, ob 16.20 uri v predavalnici 3-Rim, FF UL.

Predavanje bo v angleškem jeziku. 

Dr Igor Rogelja is a Lecturer in Global Politics, working mostly on international infrastructure and Chinese politics. He was previously based at the Lau China Institute at King’s College London and completed his doctoral studies at SOAS, University of London. He is interested in the politics of space and is involved in several research projects examining the effects of Chinese infrastructural investments in the so-called ‘Belt and Road Initiative’.

Apart from empirical work, Igor is working on bringing insights from the anthropology of infrastructure into global politics to better conceptualize how large infrastructural projects interact with political and physical space. He has published on the role of materials such as coal or concrete in shaping international politics, particularly within a multi-scalar perspective that rethinks statist explanations in favour of more nuanced work.

Abstract:

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. Yet increasingly, China-watchers are wondering whether the BRI is getting replaced by new acronyms and platforms like the GDI (Global Development Initiative) or the GSI (Global Security Initiative) which Beijing started touting in recent years. But if the BRI was such a success, why replace it? By examining how the backlash against the BRI began to mount and create problems for Beijing, this lecture will analyse the current state of China’s infrastructural spending spree, before also outlining the trends that are most relevant to Taiwan’s status as an alternative source of developmental finance, but also an important node in the geopolitical competition that the BRI has triggered.