discuss sanctions aid and their consequences
Introduction: This week’s discussion activities focus on concepts of economic security as discussed in Chapters 8 and 9 of the course textbook. You will focus especially on the rationale for, implementation, and outcomes of sanctions and international development aid from a non-US perspective. Please note that there are two discussion question groups this week; regardless of your assigned prompt you should carefully read and consider how you would respond to the second prompt. will consider the relationships between politics and economics and how wealth (broadly conceived) can be used by state actors to influence the behavior of other states. Remember that your response should be no less than 200 words.
Question: China’s One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative forms part of the foreign aid strategy of the Chinese state. Between 2000 and 2014, foreign aid to developing countries from China amounted to approximately $354 billion (Links to an external site.) (in contrast to the $395 billion of foreign aid to developing countries from the United States during the same time period. The OBOR initiative prioritizes infrastructure development in states that could become important future trading partners for China. In the long run, will OBOR benefit more than just Chinese interests? Analyze this situation from your perspective as an international relations expert. Begin by familiarizing yourself with the basics of the One Belt One Road (OBOR) program by reading at least two or three of the articles below:
- Zheping Huang. 15 May 2017. “Your guide to understanding OBOR, China’s new Silk Road plan.” Quartz. (direct link (Links to an external site.) | PDF)
- Indermit Gil. 22 September 2017. “Future Development Reads: China’s Belt and Road Initiative.” Brookings Institution. (direct link (Links to an external site.) |PDF)
- Branko Milanovic. 17 May 2017. “The west is mired in ‘soft’ development. China is trying the ‘hard’ stuff. The Guardian. (direct link (Links to an external site.) | PDF)
- Steve George and Brad Lendon. 14 March 2018. “‘Weaponizing capital.” US worries over China’s expanding role in Africa.” CNN. (direct link (Links to an external site.) | PDF).
- Andrew Small. 16 February 2018. “The Backlash to Belt and Road.” Foreign Affairs. (direct link (Links to an external site.) | PDF)
You may also incorporate any outside sources you wish (but be sure to cite them appropriately and provide a link!) After learning about OBOR, respond. In your response you should accomplish the following:
- Summarize: Based on the articles you have read, what is OBOR? Do the aims of OBOR suggest that it is a form of development aid as defined in Chapter 9?
- Evaluate: What are the potential benefits to China once OBOR is successfully realized? What are the potential benefits to OBOR-affected states? Which party stands to benefit the most?
- Analyze: How does the aid provided to developing countries by China through the OBOR initiative fit with a realist’s conception of the international system? What about a liberalist conception?
- Reflect: How might China’s ambitions in regards to OBOR impact US foreign policy?