Bearing the brunt:
The social impact of the Belt and Road Initiative’s infrastructure projects on the local communities in Myanmar

Abstract

Since its unveiling in October 2013 by Chinese President Xi Jinping, the bulk of research
on the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has dealt with the development of Chinese-
sponsored and Chinese-built physical infrastructures, its economic consequences, such as
the inflow of foreign direct investments (FDIs) into partner countries, often developing
ones, and its geopolitical implications.
Due to its unique geographical location on the eastern coast of the Bay of Bengal
connecting the Chinese landlocked province of Yunnan with the Indian Ocean, Myanmar
has long been playing a pivotal role in the BRI. Although recognizing how the BRI can
positively impact Myanmar’s economic growth, this work moves away from the
modernist understanding of infrastructures and, in line with the so-called “infrastructural
turn”, acknowledges the negative societal externalities that infrastructural development
inadvertently brings about. Taking a bottom-up approach and building on Mark Overland
and Vakulchuk (2020), this study argues that the Chinese physical infrastructures’
construction phase and everyday functioning have been entailing negative social impacts
and that these have been disproportionately born by the Myanmar local communities,
especially land-dependent ones, whose lives and livelihoods were disrupted.
To assess these negative social impacts, the article introduces interrelated concepts of
infrastructural violence (Rodgers and O’Neill 2013) and infrastructural harm (Kallianos
Dunlap, and Dalakoglou 2023). The latter will be applied to two BRI-funded
infrastructure projects in Myanmar, namely the Myanmar-China Oil and Gas Pipelines
and the Kyaukphyu Special Economic Zone (KP SEZ). The analysis shows that in both
cases no sufficient compensation was provided to the affected local communities and
ultimately makes a case for the development of non-exploitative infrastructures
benefitting Myanmar’s overall population in the future.

Link zum Paper No.12

Author:
Chiara Mattioli is a Master’s student in Peace Research and International Relations
(MAPIR) at the University of Tübingen. She previously completed her Bachelor’s degree
in Philosophy, International and Economic Studies at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.

Adress:
Melanchthonstraße 36, 72074 Tübingen

E-Mail:
chiara.mattioli@student.uni-tuebingen.de

Creating an Alternative?
The Impact of Ukraine War Sanctions on Renminbi Internationalization

Abstract
The Chinese currency renminbi and its potential to compete with other international currencies,
such as the US dollar and the euro, is the subject of an intense and ongoing debate. This working
paper investigates whether sanctions imposed as a reaction to the Ukraine war accelerated the
process of renminbi internationalization. It tests whether international sanctions drive
governments and private actors wary of dollar and euro dominance over the international
financial system toward the renminbi as an alternative currency. To test the hypothesis and give
a detailed overview of the current status of renminbi internationalization, this working paper
compiles the functions international currencies fulfill for private and official actors. It then
employs the interrupted time series regression method to trace the impact of Ukraine war
sanctions on the renminbi. The results indicate that international sanctions overall did not lead
to increased popularity of the renminbi. Instead, the renminbi is used less as a reserve currency
and for investment purposes. As a means of payment, sanctions did not have a big impact,
although renminbi currency swap lines and renminbi trade finance have seen an increase in
popularity.

Link zum Paper No.11

Author:
Julian Wendt studied Political Science and Chinese Studies at University of Tübingen. He
graduated in 2023 with this thesis.

Adress:
Melanchthonstraße 36, 72074 Tuebingen

E-Mail:
julianwendt.jw@gmail.com

Covid-19 und Next Generation EU

Abstract 

Die Covid-19-Pandemie hat mit ihrem Ausbruch im Jahr 2020 weltweit zu einer schweren
Gesundheits- und bald auch Wirtschaftskrise geführt, auch in der Europäischen Union.
Am 21. Juli 2020 einigten sich die EU-Mitgliedstaaten daher im Europäischen Rat nach
zähen und langwierigen Verhandlungen auf den Wiederaufbaufonds ‚Next Generation
EU‘ (NGEU), um die negativen wirtschaftlichen und sozialen Folgen der Pandemie ab-
zufedern.
Dieses Working Paper geht der Frage nach, wie diese bedeutsame Entscheidung
für NGEU trotz der stark unterschiedlichen Interessen und Präferenzen der EU-Mitglied-
staaten zu diesem Zeitpunkt möglich werden konnte. Um dies zu untersuchen, verwendet
diese Arbeit den Multiple-Streams-Ansatz.
Das Paper kommt zu dem Ergebnis, dass die Europäische Kommission das de-
struktive Potenzial der Covid-19-Krise erkannt, aus vergangenen Krisen gelernt und mit
NGEU nicht nur eine für alle Mitgliedstaaten akzeptable Antwort auf die wirtschaftlichen
Folgen der Pandemie gefunden hat, sondern gleichzeitig eine Vertiefung der EU voran-
treiben und ihre eigenen Kompetenzen substantiell erweitern konnte. Mit NGEU erhält
sie erstmals das Recht, europäische Gemeinschaftsschulden aufzunehmen und eigene
Steuern zu erheben. Damit hat sie das Policy-Fenster, das die Pandemie geöffnet hat, als
Policy-Unternehmerin erfolgreich genutzt, um ihre eigenen Position innerhalb der EU
weiter zu stärken und eine Kompetenzverschiebung von den Mitgliedstaaten hin zur
Kommission zu erreichen.

Link zum Paper No.10

Autor:
Christoph Starz studierte Politikwissenschaft und Soziologie an der Universität Tübingen.
Er schloss sein Bachelorstudium im Wintersemester 2022/2023 mit der vorliegenden
Arbeit ab.

Adresse:
Melanchthonstraße 36, 72074 Tübingen

E-Mail:
chris.starz@live.com

Populism in Central and Eastern Europe - The Revival of History?

Abstract 

In recent year, Central and Eastern Europe has experienced a wave of populist ascent that has swamped the mainstream discourse with radical notions and has led to a shift to the right in many countries of the region. Victor Orbán’s endeavour of transforming Hungary into an ‘illiberal democracy’ is expressive of a larger trend of democratic hollowing and backsliding in postcommunist European states. Today, more than twenty years after Francis Fukuyama predicted liberalism’s ultimate victory against its competing ideologies and with that ‘the end of history’, liberalism faces a powerful challenger in Central and Eastern Europe: populism. This paper travels back to the days of liberal triumph and explores to what extent the political-economic transformation of post-communist states has influenced populism in Central and Eastern Europe. Building on Karl Polanyi’s ‘Double Movement’, populism in Central and Eastern Europe is conceptualized as a countermovement against the hegemony of Western European liberalism. While resolving political and institutional differences between the democratic West and the communist East, I will argue, the transformation has not managed to resolve the normative hierarchy innate in the systemic confrontation between East and West. Instead, this hierarchy persists within the logic of democratic liberalism, perpetuating a power imbalance between the ‘accomplished and normative’ Western European version of liberalism and the ‘defective and still becoming’ Eastern European version thereof. Populist actors increasingly refuse to accept the Western liberal model as the normative ideal and instead draft their own version of democracy, abandoning many of what the West understands as liberalism’s core concepts.

Link to Paper No.9

Author:
Lea Schwarz ist Studentin im Masterstudiengang Friedensforschung und Internationale
Beziehungen an der Universität Tübingen. Zuvor schloss sie ihr Bachelorstudium an der
Pädagogischen Hochschule Ludwigsburg ab.

Adresse:
Melanchthonstraße 36, 72074 Tübingen

E-Mail:
Lm.schwarz@t-online.de

Klettern auf der Halbleiter :
Die Halbleiter-Strategie der Europäischen Kommission angesichts des Chip-Wars und neuer Rivalitäten

Abstract 

Mit dem Vorschlag des European Chips Acts (ECA) reagiert die Europäische Kommission auf die Halbleiter-Knappheiten, die aus Störungen der Halbleiter-Wertschöpfungskette während der Corona-Pandemie resultieren. Dieser Vorschlag reiht sich in vorangegangene Initiativen der US-amerikanischen Regierung (Chips for America Act) und der chinesischen Regierung (Made in China 2025) ein: Im Chip-War kommt es zu einem Ringen um die Kontrolle der strategisch wichtigen Wertschöpfungskette, welches durch weaponized Interdependence geprägt ist. Das Working Paper untersucht die Frage, welche Auswirkungen der Chip-War auf die EU hat und welche industriepolitischen Strategien die Europäische Kommission in der Reaktion darauf entwickelt. Anschließend wird diskutiert, welche Implikationen die Umsetzung dieser Strategien für die Position der EU im Chip-War und der Triade-Konkurrenz hat. Das Papier kommt zu dem Ergebnis, dass die Europäische Kommission mit dem ECA darauf abzielt, die Verwundbarkeit durch Disruptionen der Halbleiter-Wertschöpfungskette zu verringern. Dazu soll einerseits die europäische Halbleiter-Industrie gefördert werden und andererseits der Europäischen Kommission neue Interventionsmöglichkeiten zur Krisenreaktion ermöglicht werden. Der ECA bestätigt damit die übergeordneten Trends der Abkehr von marktliberalen Paradigmen hin zu industriepolitischem Interventionismus. Die Akteurskonstellation von europäischen Endabnehmer-Industrien und Halbleiter-Industrie begünstigt die Strategiebildung der Europäischen Kommission: Endabnehmer-Industrien fordern mehr europäische Produktionskapazitäten, um zukünftigen Knappheiten besser entgegenzuwirken. Die Halbleiter-Industrie selbst profitiert durch den global entstehenden Subventionswettkampf, welchen der ECA weiter vorantreibt, und ist in einer mächtigen Verhandlungsposition gegenüber staatlichen Akteuren. Der ECA trägt in der Folge zu einer weiteren Verfestigung der sich herausbildenden neuen Triade-Konkurrenz zwischen den USA, China und der EU bei

Link zum Paper No.8

Autor:
Jan Ruck ist Student im Masterstudiengang Demokratie und Regieren in Europa an der
Universität Tübingen. Zuvor schloss er sein Bachelorstudium der Politikwissenschaft und
Allgemeinen Rhetorik in Tübingen ab.

Adresse:
Melanchthonstraße 36, 72074 Tübingen

E-Mail: jan.ruckspam prevention@student.uni-tuebingen.de

The green spirit of capitalism -
How do market mechanisms contribute to the appropriation of ecological meaning in the food industry?

Abstract

In few places does the convergence between capitalism and ecology seem as overwhelming and omnipresent as in the food trade. As early as 2001, the author team Boltanski/Chiapello dealt with the ability of capitalism to absorb cultural meaning. The capitalist "spirit" thus always forms the moral basis that accumulation requires in order to legitimize itself socially. In order to illuminate the blind spot of this study - the concrete modes of capitalist appropriation of cultural contents of meaning - with the help of F. A. von Hayek, the market is conceptualized as a hinge between ecological contents of meaning and capitalist accumulation. In this context, the uncovering and orienting effect of competition is essential for identifying and valorizing ecological meaning, while with J.A. Schumpeter its innovative potentials are conceptualized as an exploratory effect. Using the example of the greening food industry, this process is plausibilized along the aforementioned market effects, taking into account the political, social and discursive embedding of markets. In doing so, both real economic developments and insights from the business marketing literature serve as indicators for the competition-induced genesis of a green capitalist spirit in the food industry.

Link to Paper No.7

Author

Felissa Hofmeister studied political science and history at the University of Tübingen. She completed her bachelor's degree in the summer semester of 2021 with this thesis.  

Postal address: Reutlingerstrasse 6, 72072 Tübingen, Germany.

E-mail: hofmeister.felissa@gmail.com

Libra - A disruptive (sham) innovation in the currency market

Abstract
On June 17, 2019, Facebook announced its intention to launch its own crypto currency called Libra. The largest social network in the world promised nothing less than the creation of a "global currency." The debate triggered in business and politics found its most striking expression in the demand for a central bank crypto currency. Only with this innovative counter-offer, it was assumed, could the state's currency monopoly be defended against the powerful private actor.

This working paper is devoted to the question of why Libra in particular is considered to have the potential to bring about the erosion of the state currency monopoly and to what extent such an assessment corresponds to reality. By linking the innovation theory approach of Disruptive Innovation with the monetary theory of neo-chartalism, this paper concludes that Libra is by no means a disruptive innovation in the currency market. State actors recognize a disruptive potential in Libra that, as can be seen from a monetary theory perspective, does not exist. Consequently, the state finds itself in the role of a reactive market participant that mistakenly reacts to a sham innovation. A conceptual reunderstanding of Libra as an evolutionary innovation of e-money would come closer to reality and could encourage a different form of state reaction.

Link to Working Paper No.6

Author
Daniel Tjarks studied political science and history at the University of Tübingen. He completed his Bachelor's degree in the winter semester 2019/20 with the present thesis.

The reconstruction of the Volksheim
- Causes and dimensions of the transformation of the Swedish welfare state since the 1990s

Abstract
This working paper examines the causes and dimensions of the transformation of the Swedish welfare state since the 1990s. Two guiding questions emerge that build on each other. First, which internal and/or external factors have shaken and changed the pillars of the Swedish model? Second: Does the extent of the shocks suggest only a path correction or even a change of path?

It is assumed that increasing contradictions in the design of the welfare regime coupled with the effects of the economic crisis of the 1990s lead to visible changes in the pillars of the welfare state. As a result, the social power relations, consisting of power resources and class coalitions, have shifted, as have the political-institutional framework conditions. Since the changes in the course of the shift were emphasized but moderate in nature, the reforms did not represent a radical change of course, but rather a course correction.

Link to Working Paper No. 5

Author
Matthias Fleisch is an alumnus of the University of Tübingen and took his state exam in the fall of 2017 in "Political/Economic Sciences."

Equal living conditions and regional mobility
- Impact of liberalization and privatization in the local rail passenger transport sector in Germany and France

Abstract
The international and European trend toward more privatization and liberalization does not stop at the network infrastructure. The working paper examines the consequences of such processes for the organization of "services of general interest" and "service public" - and the associated "equality of living conditions" and "cohésion" - in Germany and France. Case studies on these two countries systematically reconstruct how the European liberalization guidelines and the model of the guarantee state have affected local rail passenger transport (SPNV). Against the background of the historically developed structures, the nationally specific reform proposals and approaches to regionalization of local rail transport are reconstructed and put into relation to the changes in the range and quality of services offered. In the comparative analysis, the paper concludes that the efficiency-oriented reforms in Germany brought about a withdrawal from the area, while in France regional competencies were initially strengthened - at the acceptance of considerable financial costs and regionally divergent developments. In the future, more efficiency-oriented reforms can be expected. A European policy that recognizes and strengthens the public economy and the state's tasks of general interest and indirectly contributes to the equivalence of living conditions seems indispensable for a positive development of the local public transport system.

Link to Working Paper No. 4

Author
Patrick Klösel studied political science, philosophy and international economics in Tübingen. He is currently studying at the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy in the Master Logic and Philosophy of Science program. He is currently writing his socio-political column "Marktverzagen" in Relevant (magazine) .

On the way to a green auto hegemony?
The Political Economy of Automobility in Baden-Württemberg and the Mobility Policy of the Greens since 2011-2017

Abstract
Against the backdrop of climate change, the diesel scandal and air pollution, the political pressure to act for a sustainable turnaround in mobility has recently increased noticeably. This working paper examines the obstacles to such a change in the green-governed 'car country' of Baden-Württemberg and the strategies pursued by relevant actors in this situation. First, the concept of autohegemony is developed and spelled out on the production and consumption side according to Antonio Gramsci's considerations. On this political-economic basis, the path from the invention of the automobile to its hegemonic position in the economic and transport structure of the state is then traced historically. Finally, a policy analysis of two current projects - the State Initiative for Electromobility and the Clean Air Plan for the State Capital Stuttgart - empirically examines whether the car is losing its hegemonic position or whether the fossil-based car is merely being transformed into a 'green' car hegemony. It becomes clear that a 'green' coalition of actors is consolidating and driving forward an ecological modernization of automobility, which is manifested concretely in the electric car. However, the green autohegemony project cannot (yet) be described as hegemonic, since it is both being held back by fossilist groups of actors and criticized from a socio-ecological perspective due to lasting contradictions.

Link to Working Paper No.3

Author
Christof Wiest is currently completing his teacher training in Political Science, Economics, Protestant Theology and English at the University of Tübingen.

The role of the ECB in European crisis management
- An analysis from the perspective of a neogramscian extended regulation theory

Abstract
Since the outbreak of the global financial crisis in 2007 and the subsequent crisis in the Eurozone, the European Central Bank (ECB) has moved to the center of European crisis management. The ECB has taken on a variety of sometimes contradictory roles: It "rescues" the common currency by pursuing an unconventional monetary and economic policy, has risen to become the watchdog within the banking union and the supreme supervisor of the most important European financial institutions, and also plays an important role in the economic policy orientation of economic governance. The working paper explores how these roles can be explained and analyzes from the perspective of a neo-Gramscian expanded regulation theory, in which political-economic and institutional structures as well as in which power and power relations the ECB is embedded. Based on an evaluation of official documents, press statements, interviews, correspondence between ECB staff and national governments, and the analysis of numerous policy papers by relevant actors, it will be shown that the ECB is a central actor in the neoliberally configured crisis constitutionalism: It fits into existing power and power relations to ensure the functioning of nationally unequal accumulation regimes as well as European financial market capitalism.

Link to Working Paper No.2

Author
Simon Guntrum studied Political Science and Economics at the Institute of Political Science at the University of Tübingen.

Class Agency and Austerity

Abstract
The working paper examines the European crisis resolution strategy through austerity from a class-centered perspective. The paper answers the question whether - in contrast to theories with a heavy emphasis on structures - we can understand and describe austerity in the euro crisis as a strategic project of transnational class factions. To this end, the instrument of class analysis in the field of tension of the actor-structure discussion is examined first. Subsequently, the development of European integration since the 1980s is traced in the context of the neoliberal historical structure. Complementary to the structural analysis, the empirical part of the paper focuses on the strategic orientation of three actors of transnational European capital (ERT, BusinessEurope, and EFR) in the euro crisis. The analysis of the policy documents published during the crisis and their integration into the crisis dynamics show that austerity policy has not only a structural but also an actor-centered and thus strategic dimension.

Link to Working Paper No.1

Author
Milan Babić is currently a PhD student and research fellow at the Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research (AISSR) and part of the Programme Group Political Economy and Transnational Governance (PETGOV).