The Rise of the Infrastructure State: How US-China Rivalry Shapes Politics and Place Worldwide
This virtual book launch discusses a new book co-edited by Dr. Jessica DiCarlo, Chevalier Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Transportation and Development in China at the Institute for Asian Research at UBC’s School of Public Policy and Global Affairs.
Panelists: Jessica DiCarlo, Charis Enns, Nick Jepson, Dinesh Paudel, Seth Schindler
Moderator: Kristen Hopewell
Discussants: Alyssa Brochu and Joy Yee
About the Book
Tensions between the US and China have escalated as both powers seek to draw countries into their respective political and economic orbits by financing and constructing infrastructure. Wide-ranging and even-handed, this book offers a fresh interpretation of the territorial logic of US-China rivalry, and explores what it means for countries across Eurasia, Africa, and Latin America. The chapters demonstrate that many countries navigate the global infrastructure boom by articulating novel spatial objectives and implementing political and economic reforms. By focusing on people and places worldwide, this book broadens perspectives on the US-China rivalry beyond bipolarity, and it is an essential guide to 21st century politics.
Speaker Bios
Jessica DiCarlo is a geographer and Chevalier Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Transportation and Development in China at the Institute of Asian Research, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia. Her research lies at the intersection of critical development studies, political ecology, and economic geography. She contributes to debates on global China’s role in shaping global capitalism, resource politics, and development, particularly in Asia. She is also a co-founder of the Second Cold War Observatory.
Seth Schindler is Senior Lecturer of Urban Development and Transformation at the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester. His research is focused on large-scale urban and regional transformation initiatives that integrate cities into transnational urban systems. He is also the Co-Founder of the Second Cold War Observatory. He previously coordinated the Global Studies Programme at Humboldt University of Berlin.
Dinesh Paudel is an Associate Professor in the Sustainable Development Department at Appalachian State University. Prior, he was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Geography at Dartmouth College. Broadly, he is interested in understanding how development discourses originate and travel, and how they articulate with economic, ecological and political processes at multiple scales. One of his current projects focuses in exploring the complex entanglements between rising Asian economies, growing environmental degradation, and rapidly expanding infrastructure in the Himalaya.
Charis Enns is a Presidential Fellow in Socio-Environmental Systems at the Global Development Institute. Her interests sit at the intersection of critical development studies, human and environmental geography, and political ecology, focusing on the impacts of large-scale investments in land and natural resources on rural landscapes, ecologies and socialities in East and Central Africa.
Nick Jepson is the Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the Global Development Institute and School of Environment, Education and Development at the University of Manchester. He studies the political-economic implications of the rise of China and is the author of In China’s Wake (Columbia UP). His current project focuses on China’s growing role as a financier of development projects across the world via the BRI.
Hosted by:
The Centre for Chinese Research at the Institute of Asian Research, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, UBC
